Disclaimer: The playground is by Rumiko Takahashi, I'm only swinging on
the monkey bars. Remember to leave the grounds cleaner than you found
them and please don't feed the Trolls.

/The Hunter and the Bear/ was picked up from Alan Cole and Chris Bunch,
and extensively filled out by me. If it originated with them, they own
whatever copyright exists. If it didn't, they don't. It was originally
told by Wee Alex, Laird Kilgour of Kilgour, who _may_ have Ranma beat
in cool, but who is nowhere near as cute.

Jei-san, on the other hand (look that's his name, okay?) is the
exclusive property of Stan Sakai, who is welcome to him. I am merely
borrowing his likeness, and will return it as soon as I am done with
it. And not before time too, I don't want it sticking around in my
head. 

"Summer Lightning" and "Stars in Their Crown" are by Garnet Rogers, as
before.

This story is archived at http://www.kawaiikunee.com/slp/

Release 1.3 (Dec. 04, 2000)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

She could barely believe her luck. 

It had already been a day to cherish forever in memory. First, she had
been brave. Ranma-sempai herself had said so. Not that she really
believed that she had been brave, as such. She had simply felt that
something needed to be done, and then she had done it. Still, it had
gotten her praise and admiration, and Ranma-sempai had even thanked her
for it, so .... 

She had, however, discovered that it was far preferable to feel that
one had been brave than to feel brave in the current moment. The reason
being, being brave _now_ meant that something deeply unpleasant must,
by definition, be happening; whereas, on the other hand, _having been_
brave meant that the unpleasant thing must have been faced. And, of
course, overcome. (The narrator would like to note at this time that
the subject is, after all, only seventeen.)

Second, her newfound notoriety had gotten her a date! Which she was
just now returning from. And which had been really fun, too. Not as
good as it could have been, true, but the cute guy from class 3-C had
been able to afford a trip to a _good_ restaurant - a good _expensive_
restaurant - and had spent most of the evening paying attention to her.
Even if it had only been so he could ask about Ranma. So, she felt, the
gates had been opened, and it was now possible that she might achieve
the lofty heights of Going Steady. Just as soon as she found one of the
boys at Furinkan who wasn't a jerk. She was sure there must be _one_.

But third, ahh _third_, now there was the thing. The great thing. The
unalloyedly wonderful thing. For, walking home from her date, she had
passed a park. And her attention had been drawn to an area just inside
a screen of bush, where she had made A Find. A wonderful find. She,
Asano Sayuri, Furinkan High Class 2-F, had found ... a puppy! 

Stop snickering. Right now.

It was weak and half-starved, and very ragged looking, but she knew
that it would grow up fine and strong. It had weakly snapped at her
hand, but she knew that she would soon win its heart, and that it would
be loyal and true. Best of all, it was in the park unhelped by any but
herself, which meant it must be free for any who could aid and protect
it. And since it was obviously Greatly In Need, her parents would have,
could have, no objection to her keeping it.

Asano Sayuri, at heart, was a great romantic, who frequently viewed the
world through glasses not merely rose-colored, but actively
rose-projecting, and so she smiled and skipped slightly as she carried
home the wolf cub she had found. It would, she knew, be grand. And,
invisible to her view (since it was turned away from her), a tiny fleck
of green light flickered in one of the wolf cub's eyes, and then went
out.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

And Kuno Kodachi sat quietly and watched her brother with what passed,
for her, as concern. He had been very different since yesterday, and no
previous simple beating had ever engendered such a result. Also, she
noticed, his sword was now securely locked in its sheath, instead of
displayed on its stand, as was proper. 

Perhaps some spell had been cast on her idiotic older brother. Or
perhaps something else odd had occurred. In any case, she supposed, she
would have to check herself. Furinkan, bah! She had visited before, and
in the whole school there was no person of merit or spirit. No person
at all.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------


And across Nerima a number of phone conversations burned late into the
night. They had been beaten. They had been disgraced and dishonored.
Moreover, some felt, they had deserved it. First, they had failed to
adequately take into account the proper considerations of a challenge,
and second, they had attempted to attack by surprise. A direct frontal
confrontation, it was agreed, would certainly lead to a restoration of
honor. In one sense or another.

And in a maison apartment on the outskirts of the district liquified
moonlight dripped, over a jade ring, into a silver pan. 

And the night rolled on. And morning came.

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Ranma & Akane: A Love Story. 
Chapter 3: The Third Day
Part A: Point of Contact: The Hunter and the Bear

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Bushiko Ranma exited her apartment as the sun rose above her
windowsill. Behind her she left her apartments just as she had the day
before; ahead of her she had a wait of at least 30 minutes before Akane
would conceivably leave the Tendo Dojo for school. A half-hour of which
she intended to make full use.

The basic problem, she reflected, was that she had very little
experience in dealing with the emotion of great happiness. The only
means of easily dealing with _any_ great emotion she had was to work
off the excess energy. Therefore ...

She leapt, touched one toe to the nearest roof and leapt again. Spun in
mid-air, turned a somersault, bounced off a passing air molecule,
tapped a toe on a passing water-tower, back-flipped 30 yards of
warehouse, touched down in a cartwheel, leapt again. Flickering from
foothold to hand-hold, flashing from tower to wall, dancing across the
Neriman skyline, her only accompaniment the musical chiming of her own
delighted laughter, filling the air behind her progress like a chorus
of golden bells.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Ranma came down on Akane from out of the rising sun. Akane determined
that Ranma's attack wasn't really serious by the simple fact that she
could defend against it. Instead Ranma neatly bounced off her raised
arm, transferring no force but achieving enough velocity to bounce off
a nearby fence in another attack. 

This sequence continued with Akane blocking and Ranma delivering more
and more complex and difficult attacks. Each coming increasingly closer
to breaking past her guard as Akane's defensive maneuvers drew her
farther and farther away from Nabiki, to the point where her back was
almost against the fence by the side of the road. 

Then a sneaky rebound off the fence behind her left her nowhere to go
but up. She snap-jumped to the top of the fence and was then forced
repeatedly back, unable to spare the attention needed to discover where
she was but happy just to have no more than one direction from which to
expect attacks. 

Akane was driven back more than sixty yards along the fence before
Ranma took pity and ceased her attack. Akane stayed in a defensive
stance for another few seconds as Nabiki came running up with her mouth
open. 

"Akane! That was great! I didn't think anyone could move along the top
of a fence like that!"

Akane looked down, wavered, and wildly waved her arms in an attempt to
keep her balance, but succeeded only in falling off the inside of the
fence, onto the sidewalk (instead of the outside, into the stream). 

Looking up from her position flat on her rump on the ground, Akane
observed Ranma covering her eyes and shaking her head, and Nabiki
shaking her whole body with barely restrained mirth. 

"And so gracefully done, too," Ranma observed mildly.

"If you'd _told_ me I was on a fence _earlier_...."

"You'd have fallen off earlier, ne? It's often the case that the body
unconscious of its circumstances can do things it never could by the
will of the mind alone, but you don't often see it that clearly," Ranma
replied, still calmly. "And now, for your next trick, get back on the
fence."

"But, but, but ...."

"_Up_!"

Wobbling frantically, Akane attempted to keep her balance on the
fencetop. Then she felt a pair of hands on her shoulders, steadying her
balance. Ranma turned to Nabiki, "Please excuse us, Nabiki-san, and
continue on to school. I see that I have some training to accomplish,
but we'll be along shortly."

Akane gulped, and commended herself to the protection of the Kami. 

"Now, Akane, first we walk," beginning to do so, "and then we run."

Accelerating along the top of the fence, Ranma took a corner and left
Nabiki behind, pushing Akane along before her.

Akane observed the sharp-looking top of the fence vanishing beneath her
and quavered, "Wh-what happens if I lose my balance?"

"You get to do a split onto a sharp surface. This will hurt. A lot,"
Ranma replied calmly. "I don't recommend it." 

"Oh, fine!" Akane mumbled.

"And now we go faster."

"Help."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Returning to the straight track to Furinkan as they neared the school,
Ranma and Akane caught up to Nabiki just before they reached the outer
wall of the courtyard. Akane, Nabiki noted, was looking somewhat
frazzled but bore no evidence of injury. 

Returning to the sidewalk, the two walked alongside Nabiki as they
entered the schoolyard, only to run into a wall of semi-determined male
silliness. Perhaps a dozen Furinkan students were lined up in the
center of the yard, each bearing some form of combat implement. The
leader bowed to Ranma and began to speak.

Ranma raised an eyebrow and interrupted. "Let me guess. You lads have
decided to go the formal challenge route."

"Err ... yes," the leader said uncertainly.

"Ah. Tell me," Ranma said, "have any of you gentlemen heard the story
of the Hunter and the Bear?"

General negation was expressed.

     Ahh. So. (said Ranma) It seems that once there was a man who
     was successful in all his business and in all his life. 

     And he attributed his success to the fact that he treated his
     life and his business struggles as though they were hunts.
     And he proved his point by referring to the trophies that he
     had accumulated down the years he had hunted the valiant
     tiger, and the noble elephant, and the ferocious cow. 

     Yet, alas, his life was incomplete, and he suffered sorely
     for the lack. For, despite all the beasts he had hunted and
     all the trophies he had taken, in all his life he had never
     hunted _Bear_. 

     And so, one year in the summer of his life, when he had grown
     weary of the games he played, he summoned his managers and
     accountants and bade them take over all his enterprises and
     companies and investments, and to keep them safe and
     prosperous until it should again please him to exhibit his
     business acumen, and financial skill. 

     And he gathered to himself, from the reserves of all his
     possessions, a great store of treasure, and he set himself to
     hunt _Bear_ and to gain himself a rug. Or, as it might be, a
     coat.

     And he bought a new and most excellent rifle, such as he was
     wont to use to take his prey. And he hired a famous hunting
     guide to teach him of all the _Bear's_ habits and customs.
     And he spent gold with a free hand to seek out all the
     information and rumors that could be found concerning his
     victim-to-be. And then he took ship for the far-away land
     where, it was said, _Bear_ was to be found.

     On arriving in that place he indulged in another week of
     riotous living, such as he had done on shipboard (and indeed,
     if the truth were to be told, all his life): drinking fine
     wines and liquors, romancing pretty, admiring, girls, eating
     gourmet meals, and boasting to all and sundry of the glory he
     was soon to win. 

     Then he went into seclusion for a week, to listen to the
     efforts of the priests he had paid to pray for his success,
     and to watch the smoke rising from the sacrifices of the
     costly treasures he had purchased specifically to win the
     favor of the gods. 

     And to drink only the finest of teas, made only from the
     purest of water hand carried from the mountain springs of its
     birth. 

     And to eat only the newest and purest of rice, prepared by
     the finest of chefs, and topped only by the choicest of
     salted bream, and fugu, and squid from the deepest part of
     the ocean. 

     And to spend much time in the hottest saunas, thinking pure
     thoughts, while pretty, naked, girls attended him, striking
     him on the back with birch branches to drive all impurities
     and poisons from his pores. 

     And in various other such manners to strengthen his body, and
     to focus his mind, and to commend his success to all the
     relevant kami, and to call on the protection and good luck of
     all of his personal and family spirits, ghosts, fairies and
     tutelary dieties.

     And then, one morning, he picked up his weapon, and had a
     fine hunting lunch packed, and traveled forth into the wide
     world beyond the hunting lodge. He traveled to a secluded
     hide, above a descending slope which overlooked a brushy
     expanse of valley, where there were bushes of berries, and a
     swift flowing stream filled with fish. And where there was
     known to be _Bear_. 

     And after he had waited for an hour or two, drinking the
     nourishing drink with which he was equipped and nibbling on
     the many snacks which had been provided in his bento, along
     the open space in the vale below him came that which he had
     journeyed so far and through such hardships to match himself
     against: a _Bear_. 

     It was plodding unconcernedly along, eating berries from the
     bushes and considering, perhaps, a main course of fish.

     He observed it through the excellent telescopic sight on his
     rifle, sniffling a little at the sad fate that awaited such a
     magnificent specimen. Almost, almost, he abandoned his
     sniper's rest and descended to meet the great beast, to face
     it in hand-to-claw combat from a short distance, say 100
     yards or so, to be more sporting. 

     But no, he hardened himself to pity and thought that if the
     beast had desired a sporting chance, it should have worked to
     make one, as he had. And he settled the sights on the broad
     shoulder displayed before him, and he nestled the stock
     gently into his shoulder, and he stroked the trigger, and the
     rifle barked its song of death.

     And below him, in the valley, the great _Bear_ shook its
     head, and stumbled, and fell, very slowly, to its side, and
     lay still ... dead.

     And he rose from the blind where he had waited, and observed
     the trophy below him, and saw in it all that he had worked
     for. And descended the slope before him, to claim it. 

     Down he went, planning in his mind what he would do with the
     trophy so dearly won, and how it would be displayed. And he
     reached the bottom of the ridge, and broke through the brushy
     screen, and found there bushes full of berries, and a stream
     full of fish, but no _Bear_, nor corpse of _Bear_, and no
     sign that ever there had been one.

     Frantically now he cast about, searching for any clue as to
     where his trophy had gone, or who had taken it. And he strode
     forward into the middle of the vale, running to where he had
     seen the great carcass fall, but no carcass, nor sign of
     such, nor footprint, nor mark, nor any other trace of the
     great beast's presence did he find. 

     And then something tapped him on the shoulder.

     And then he turned around.

     And there before him, rising up in majesty and wrath, with
     fur stained by the blood of its victims, with rolling eye and
     roaring growl, stood _Bear_. And its terrible claws were long
     and crusted with red. And its awful teeth were sharp and
     keen. And it towered over him like a cliff above a shaking
     mouse. 

     And then his courage failed him, and he dropped his rifle,
     and waited tremblingly to die.

     And then he heard a voice, a terrible and growling voice, the
     voice of _Bear_! And it said, "Now lad, if y' wan' tae live,
     ye'll be droppin yer trousies and turnin aroun', an' I'll be
     performin' a disgustin' sexual act upon yer trembling bod!" 

     And the man winced, and *yerked* and *yaaghed*, but the
     _Bear_ was terrible, and its claws were sharp, and so.... 

     And so he dropped his trousers, and turned around ... and
     that's it, that's all. 

     _But_! 

     Later, dragging back to the lodge, he resolved that he should
     leave his properties and investments in the hands of his
     managers and retire to a monastery, to mortify his flesh, and
     apologize to the gods for his pollution. 

     But first, _first_ he would return to this place and destroy
     the _Bear_, and use its skin for a rug to sit on in the
     monastery, and to warm his backside as he begged for alms.
     And he would spend all his wealth and treasure, if necessary,
     to attain that end. After all, what use would it now be to
     him? 

     And so he returned to his homeland by the fastest jet which
     was to be found in all that country, and he threw all the
     resources of his great empire into his one overriding goal. 

     And he caused to be designed a rifle; a weapon so advanced
     that it could have destroyed a squadron of tanks in one
     burst. A weapon whose merest glancing blow would blow a hole
     three feet wide through battleship armor. A weapon which was
     so accurate that the veriest novice could use it to blow in
     half a fly three miles off, and hit both halves as they fell. 

     And he trained with it, and hired the world's greatest
     marksman, and its most accomplished tracker, and its foremost
     animal scientist, all to explain to him, and to design a plan
     to bring the fearful beast to its end. And he gave them all
     they required, and built and strove as they said.

     And then, again in spring, he again traveled to that far-away
     land, and prayed and sacrificed, and took his weapon, and all
     his devices and schemes, and went forth to the ridge above
     the valley, to meet his nemesis again. 

     And he set all his traps and devices in the valley below,
     disguising all his scent and sign, that the beast might not
     be disturbed in its progress. 

     And again he took up a position in a hide on the ridge, and
     again he waited for the _Bear_.

     And again time passed, and again the _Bear_ came along the
     stream in the valley below. 

     And again he sighted his weapon, but no pity or moment of
     grace stayed his hand this time! 

     And again he stroked the trigger, and again the rifle roared.
     And all the traps, and nets, and devices activated, blew up
     or fired at once. And when the smoke had cleared the bruin
     lay, not merely killed, but torn into a thousand pieces,
     pierced, burned, strewn about the ground. 

     And again he raced down the slope, and took his weapon with
     him. And he anticipated, as he ran, how he would dance upon
     the _Bear's_ carcass when he reached it, how he would make a
     common pillow from the largest scrap of its hide, how he
     would piss on the barren place where he would burn the rest
     of its rotten, stinking corpse.

     And again he reached the bottom of the ridge, and broke the
     line of the brush before the valley floor. And again he found
     there bushes full of berries, and a stream full of fish, but
     again he found no _Bear_.

     And again he searched the little valley, weapon held low and
     fierce before him, ready for any movement.

     And again something tapped him on the shoulder.

     And again he turned around.

     And again before him, rising up in terrible, monstrous form,
     with blood-stained fur, and flashing eye and thunderous
     growl, stood _Bear_. And its claws were long and sharp, and
     dripped with clotted gore. And its teeth were keen and
     clouded with the red tinged saliva that its twisting neck
     scattered near and far. And it towered above him and its dark
     shadow blinded him. 

     And again his courage failed him, and again he dropped his
     weapon, and prayed for the death he once had feared.

     And again he heard the voice, a terrible voice of his shame,
     the voice of _Bear_! And it said, "Now lad, if it's tae live
     y' want, ye'll be bendin' doon, and openin' yer maw, and
     ye'll be performin' a disgustin' sexual act upon me!"

     And again he wailed, and prayed that the test might pass, but
     the _Bear_ was strong, and its terrible fangs dripped blood-
     tinged drool. And he wished for death, but not like that. 

     And so, finally, he bent down, and ... and that's all, but
     later, again returning weeping to the lodge, he decided.

     Corrupt he was, and impure, and damned for a coward. He would
     endow monasteries and temples, he would give all his wealth
     to charity and good works, and then he would find some active
     volcano, and throw himself in, and remove his pollution from
     the circles of the world.

     But first, _first_, FIRST! 

     Without fear, without possibility of failure, without
     reprieve. 

                                _The_ 

                                _Bear_ 

                                _Must_ 

                                _Die!_

     And so he again returned to his homeland, and spent gold like
     water in his quest. 

     He acquired the perfect rifle, the highest product of the
     world's best gunsmith's art. 

     He went alone into the wilderness with his weapon and the
     collected wisdom of the world in regard to _Bears_, their
     habits, and all that related, or had ever related to them. 

     And in the wilderness, in practice with the rifle, and the
     bear-spear, and in communion with all that the world knew of
     _Bear_, he planned and plotted and grew in skill, until he
     was, without question, the very best, most knowledgeable and
     most skillful hunter of _Bear_ that there had ever been.

     And then, in fall, when _Bears_ are fat and somnolent,
     _again_ he traveled to that land, and _again_ he prayed and
     sacrificed. 

     And _again_ he took his rifle, and added to it his spear. 

     And _again_ he went forth to the ridge above the valley. 

     And _again_ he took up a position in a blind on the ridge. 

     And _again_ he waited. He waited for the _Bear_.

     And _again_ time passed, and _again_ the _Bear_ came along
     the stream in the valley below. 

     And _again_ he sighted his weapon, and _again_ he stroked the
     trigger, and _again_ the rifle sang. 

     And _again_ the missile flew straight, and struck its target
     directly on. 

     And _again_ the great head shook, and _again_ the great legs
     stumbled, and _again_ the great beast fell.

     And _again_ he raced down the slope, and _again_ he took his
     his rifle, and also he took his spear. 

     And _again_ he reached the bottom of the ridge, and _again_
     he broke the line of the brush before the valley floor. 

     And _again_ he found there bushes full of berries, and
     _again_ he found a stream full of fish. 

     And _again_ he found no _Bear_.

     And _again_ he scanned the valley, _again_ he searched and
     stared.

     And _again_ something tapped him on the shoulder.

     And _again_ he turned around.

     And _again_ before him, stood the _Bear_, and _again_ its
     claws were long and sharp, and _again_ its teeth were keen.

     And _again_ its mouth dripped bloody drool, and _again_ it
     towered above him and _again_ its dark shadow blinded him.

     And _again_ his courage failed him, and _again_ he dropped
     his weapons, and _again_ he prayed for the death knew he
     would not find.

     And _again_ he heard the voice, the terrible voice of _Bear_!

     And it said, "Now lad, tell th' truth. Ye didnae come here
     frae the huntin', did ye?"

Ranma's voice on the last question had become soft and gentle. And she
looked upon the white-faced boys huddling before her, and bestowed on
them a smile. A gentle smile. A kind and sweet smile. An angelic smile.

And the last remnant of the Fight at Furinkan, pale and shaking, turned
away from the terrible figure they had sought to challenge. And
stumbled weeping up the steps, and divided themselves among their
several classes, where they sat huddled and still all the rest of the
day. And where no-one spoke of the story, or of the Fight. Not that
day, nor for a long time to come.

And Ranma and Akane, arms linked, and voices rising to the clear blue
sky, walked up the stairs behind them, singing.

     When he was fast asleep, hey do me harity
     When he was fast asleep, me being young,
     When he was fast asleep, I from his side did creep,
     Into the arms of a handsome young man!

     Now he's got Faloorum, Faleerum, Fallorum,
     Now he's got Fallorum, Faleerum, Falaay!
     Now he's got Fallorum, he's got a Ding-Doorum,
     Maids, when you're young, never wed an old man!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

She had woken with the new day and prepared for school. Then she had
gone to the room where the puppy had slept, to see its progress for
herself. Now she knew, she had made a mistake, a dreadful mistake, the
previous day. Now, she knew, she must be brave, and even bravery would
do no good for her. But it still might serve another. 

And so she clutched the twisted, claw-like hand that held her throat
with both her own. 

And so she looked up into the eyes, burning with a green internal fire,
of the seven-foot, near skeletal, black-robed figure that held her
fast. 

And so she saw the twisted, part wolf, part fox, part feline, all
terrible face of the being before her, and recognized in it the remnant
of the puppy she had found.

And so she heard it ask, in a horrible, pain-wracked voice, as twisted
as itself, for information about _Ranma_. 

And so she was brave, and made no sound. 

And she heard the horrified shriek, and saw, through a sudden twilight,
her mother standing in the doorway, aghast. 

And then the night came down.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Ranma & Akane: A Love Story. 
Chapter 3: The Third Day
Part B: Storming the Wall: A Game of Wolf and Dragon

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Koriko Nagao was having what he could unqualifiedly describe as the
worst day of his life. He had been humiliated and dishonored and
disgraced, he thought greyly. 

It had been bad enough before, when that horrible barbarian had
terrified all the males of Furinkan on the first day. It had been
unendurable when he had been seduced by his own rage into joining the
attempted attack that had ended so humiliatingly on the second. Or he
had thought it had been unendurable anyway. Now he knew better what
'unendurable' meant. 

Then they had only laughed at him to his face. Only snickered at him
behind his back. Only looked with disgust at a stalwart of the Kendo
Club. Only tittered at the distress of a champion of the school. Only
sniggered at the nakedness and humiliation of a descendant of samurai.
Only that, then. 

And so he had called together the other stalwarts, the only remaining
bastions of Furinkan tradition. Even their leader had deserted them,
the noble Kuno Tatewaki injured in spirit and plunged into depression
by the beating administered by That Horrible Girl. They were alone now,
but they would uphold tradition and honor as they saw it.

And so they had analyzed. Dissected available data. Consulted the
authorities. And realized, to their horror and shame, that they, _they_
_themselves_ had largely been to blame. 

Error had crept in to the ways of Furinkan. They had turned from the
path of honor, and they had rightly suffered for it. Engaging in mass
attacks on a single warrior in a matter of honor. Attempting an ambush.
Hiding like cowards. Following a mongrel dog to avenge themselves on
one who had merely acted in defense of another. 

Finally they had turned to look at themselves and seen what they had
become. Worse, they realized, they had led others into error, as well.
All of the male students of Furinkan had eventually joined in the Fight
For Akane's Heart. All were now tarred with the same brush, with the
same stain, as they.

They must atone, they realized. They must immediately place their
straying feet back on the path of honor. But how to do so? 

There was only one choice, he had argued. They had begun as warriors,
as samurai in a sense, albeit, he now realized, badly misguided ones.
They must mend their honor the same way. 

Yet simple seppuku would not do, for the old ways were no longer
honored as once they had been. They would not be seen, many said, as
cleansing themselves from stain; but rather as overly-emotional
children, even as misguided fools. 

And what else were they, some wag had remarked, bitterly. Some, another
said, would even believe that they were running, unwilling to face up
to their shame. 

No, he had argued persuasively, they must seek a confrontation instead.
They must challenge Ranma-san directly, one by one; in the broad light
of day, and not hiding behind walls; and only after they recovered from
the destruction she would surely and deservedly work upon them would
their honor be capable of being restored. 

'And,' he thought, 'in such a combat, with weapon in hand, it would
surely not be difficult to require Ranma-san to use lethal force in her
own defense.' Thus ending the life he now felt too dishonored to
endure, without drawing down censure on anyone.

So he had thought, but he had been wrong. They had challenged, or
attempted to challenge, at least, but she had not responded with blows
but rather with words. With a story; 'A morality tale,' he winced
mentally, and with that story she had not merely defeated them; she had
destroyed them. 

He had returned to his classroom dreading the looks of anger and
disgust he knew he would see on the inhabitants thereof. But instead he
had seen something worse. Much worse. He had looked sideways at their
dutiful faces as the Sensei called the roll, and there he had surprised
an emotion more terrible than anything he had ever seen, even in his
darkest nightmare: the emotion of pity. 

Pity and condescension, as though his humiliation was only to be
expected. Worse even than this, _un_concern, as though his shame was
not even worthy of consideration. As though _he_ was not worthy of
consideration. As though he were nothing.

He had answered the roll without conscious thought, hearing without
observing the information that one of his female class-members was
unexpectedly absent. He had not even dared to look at Ranma, where she
sat midway back in the class; he did not wish to see what expression
she wore. He had excused himself immediately, pleading a call of
nature; they would surely snicker, but he could not bring himself to
care. He had almost fled the building, and now huddled in dread by the
outer wall, just by the gates. 

Huddled there in dread, for he knew he could not evade classes, and
those dreadful, pitying, unconcerned faces forever. And observed the
approach to the school gates of what seemed, to his in-looking eyes, to
be one of Furinkan's schoolgirls. Perhaps it was Asano-san he mused,
dully. He must pull himself together in front of his classmate. She had
not heard of his humiliation yet; he must put off that hearing, for a
moment at least. 

Almost restoring his features to normalcy he turned to face her and
welcome her to school. And heard her ask him a question, a question
which he did not register. 

That voice! That pain-wracked, twisted, voice never belonged to
Asano-san! What? 

And he observed a fog clear from his sight. And he saw the towering,
black-robed, demonic figure replace his classmate as if by magic, still
clutching her briefcase in one twisted claw, but bearing a great, cruel
bladed Yari in the other. And he saw the bestial wolf-like figure snarl
at him. And raise its spear as he seemed to freeze, mired in some
clinging substance that weighed down his limbs. 

And then the twilight fell, and Koriko Nagao saw through dimming vision
the spear-shaft extending from his chest retract, its broad head's
bright sheen dimmed by scarlet lifeblood. And realized that he had been
granted the escape from shame that he had sought, before the night
claimed him utterly.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Ranma and Akane had been slightly concerned for Sayuri when it was
discovered that she was not in school that day. Yuka, however, had
volunteered the information that she had gotten home from her date
somewhat late last night, and furthermore that she had found a puppy.
So it was decided that she must simply have overslept, or possibly
caught some type of bug, and would be gently teased about it when she
finally dragged in.

Then the studious peace of Furinkan was broken by a scream. A piercing,
terrible scream. It came from one of the classrooms on the front side
of the first floor , and was followed by a muffled shout that brought
Ranma out of her startlement, with a shocked oath that split plaster at
30 feet, and out the door in a dead run. 

Akane followed after her, dreading whatever had disturbed her sensei,
and reached the bottom of the stairs in time to see Ranma wave her hand
in a complex pattern -- outer fingers vee-ed and inners curling -- at
the wall of one classroom, which promptly exploded into dust. 

Akane gasped and choked on the swirling dust, straining to see into the
opened room. Ranma, however, suffered no such difficulty, snap- drawing
Tenchuu in a classic Iado cut at the dark-robed bulk that suddenly
lunged at her, trailing a scarlet stream of blood drops from its
outstretched spear-blade.

Ranma pivoted like a matador, sending the lunging demon-wolf past her
with a tortured, wordless howl. Tenchuu blurred as it passed, striking
deep more than a hundred times with a sound like a deep-tolling bell,
and Ranma snarled a name: "Jei!" 

Akane gasped in shock as the hurtling spear-blade bore down on her, and
saved herself from impalement only by a desperate sideways twist
propelled by the impetus of a side snap-kick, which slammed into the
injured side, spraying blood and fur from the cuts Ranma's attack had
left. Akane saw with a strange, singing clarity as she shoulder-rolled
off the floor; everything seemed to be outlined, thrown into sharp
relief so that her racing mind could clearly distinguish between what
was important, and what was not. 

Important, for example, were the injuries to the wolf- demon's side,
healing as she watched, the flesh flowing and squirming back into
proper shape. Also important was the howling ki aura building up around
Ranma and flowing down her sword, and Akane abandoned reflection and
achieved the state of avoidance.

Ranma held on to the howling, snarling ki-force with a leash of sheer
willpower, quickly enjoining it to build in a circling tubular
onion-like structure, each thin inner layer of force spinning in
counter- rotation to the next, burning lightning and destructive wind
vortices building rapidly to an uncontainable level from the internal
dissonance and friction of the whole structure. 

The task, for her, was strenuous but not especially challenging; she
was much stronger then the last time she had called the Dragon Wind in
earnest, and farther advanced down the paths of breath and spirit as
well. Now, calling on her full power, Ranma held what she knew was the
most powerful attack she had ever performed until Jei had stabilized
himself enough to be rooted. Until he had placed himself fully in the
path of destruction, yet removed his ability to dodge it. Then she
released its bonds, and called it to battle by name. "Ryuukaze!"

A corona of blue-white lightning struck inward toward Ranma's aura,
crackling towards her body and hands like a berserk, inverted Van de
Graaff generator. St. Elmo's fire of red and neon blue played all about
her, illuminated the swirling storm wind that gathered about her hands
where they clenched around Tenchuu's hilt, swept down Tenchuu's blade
and launched itself as a horizontal tornado that sped irresistibly
across the twenty foot space to Jei's back. 

A flaming, thundering tide of lightning rode the wind, outlining its
passage with crackling, neon light. At its tip a vortex of the storm,
wind powerful enough to crumble diamond or shred titanium alloy like
wet cardboard, formed a dragon's head; filled with the heart of the
lightning and drawing the tornado behind it as the head draws the body,
wings and claws following after. As it passed it drew up debris and
shredded floor-tiles into itself, their component particles joining its
destructive force; and on Ranma's chest, underneath her shirt and wrap,
the dragon threw back her head -- and roared. 

Ranma watched with fleeting satisfaction as an unstoppable tide of pure
destruction hit Jei squarely in the back -- and accomplished precisely
nothing. 'Oh, _shit_! He learned to shield!' She hurled herself across
the separating space between them, shifting her sight to the mode she
used to analyze a structure of magic, and slipped fully munen muso,
into zanshin mind-no-mind.

Jei spun towards his attacker, keeping his attention focused on her
ki-force, and beginning a triumphant snarl. 

Ranma sliced past him in a rush, Tenchuu burning through his stomach
and out his back, severing his spine. Ranma spun around Jei, hand, feet
and sword flickering, testing his defenses and ki in a whirlwind too
fast for even Jei's boosted senses to track, but also too fast to do
any lasting damage, the minor wounds healing even as they were made. 

At last, having discovered as much as she could, Ranma flashed to a
position straddling Jei's neck, one foot bracing against his back as
the other leg curled around his throat. A convulsive twist of Ranma's
body broke even Jei's inhumanly strong neck; and sent her off his
shoulders to bounce off the wall behind him, curling her legs against
her chest and storing power in them. 

Then she exploded away from the wall, into his back; her sword flashed
around to sever his head entirely as she built a tornado-strength
shield of wind behind and around her body and uncurled into Jei's back.
The force of her ki-charged shove shattered every bone in his spine and
propelled him violently across forty yards of open air, through and out
of the classroom he had been destroying originally, and into Furinkan's
yard. 

A lash of green energy erupted from his severed neck as he passed,
joining the severed stump of his neck to his bouncing, discarded head;
drawing the latter after it with a shriek of rage and pain that would
have shattered all the windows on Furinkan's front side, had there been
any undestroyed to that point. Which there weren't. 

Impacting the ground violently and being propelled into a tumbling
roll, Jei progressed down the yard with a series of cracking and
ripping noises, landing on his feet and healing all his wounds with a
sustained wet crackle that ended as his head slammed home atop his neck
and knit together again with a squelch that would probably have been
exceedingly disgusting had anyone been paying attention to it. 

Ranma leaped through the destroyed classroom, absently noting the
carnage within, and landed just outside what had been Furinkan's outer
wall. "Jei-san. I see you have gained in prowess since the last time I
killed you."

The storm-loud cackle of mad laughter that erupted from Jei seemed to
provide any answer that might be necessary, but he continued anyway.
"Fool, I cannot be killed! I am the champion of the Gods, and they have
given me new power for the holy task of destroying you and all your
works, utterly!" 

A green ball of fire suddenly filled his hand. "Now, prepare to die!"
he screamed as he threw it at Ranma. She batted it aside without
expression, unmoving as it spattered twenty feet of Furinkan's front
wall with a clinging emerald flame that corroded stone, glass and wood
alike.

Ranma again drew in her power and answered Jei's challenge with a bolt
of lightning. "Gekirin no Ryuu!" The thunderclap that followed the
lightning's ineffectual explosion off Jei's shield fixed his attention
firmly on Ranma herself, and allowed Akane to shoo several panicking
students up the stairs to (presumed) safety, while she herself ran to
the destroyed classroom to see what help she might give. 

Upon jumping the low sill left by the destroyed wall, she landed in a
warm, sticky pool and went to one knee; looking around in disbelieving
horror she found that the answer was: none. At least a dozen bodies
littered the floor and desks of the violated room. Most were in pieces
no larger than half a torso, but all were clearly dead, and the still,
brooding air hung heavy with the iron tang of fresh blood, and the
sewer stench of released bowels, overlain by the visceral, sour-sweet
smell of human death. 

The combination went straight to her hindbrain and forced her, gagging,
to her hands and knees. Her eyes widened in shock, and she scrambled to
her feet, frantically wiping her hands on her pants as she realized
what she had landed _in_. She gasped and then determinedly looked away
from the carnage around her, out across the field to, and then past,
the looming figure of the seven-foot tall wolf-demon, to where several
panicked students, nearly mindless with fear, huddled against the
outside wall of the schoolyard.

Akane lunged out of the destroyed wall section, snatching at the
central pillar of an overturned desk in passing, and ran across the
field, yelling desperately for the students to run behind her, and away
from the demonic spear-wolf. As she passed directly in line with Jei,
she hurled the desk across the separating distance, smashing him dead
on and hurling him into the wall. 

Unfortunately, however, one of the students, who had heard her call and
started to run across to her, was on the wrong side. Thus, when Jei
smashed into the wall, said student was less than three feet from the
impact and, startled and unable to stop, ran directly into the towering
figure as he clawed his way from the rubble of the wall. 

Jei's hand lashed out and closed on the hapless student's neck even as
Ranma and Akane both lunged towards the tableaux, and the terrible,
bloodied spear flashed back for a death-stroke. Akane, was close enough
to arrive in time and simply shoulder-tackled Jei, breaking his hold on
the student, and driving them both apart and into the wall. 

Jei rebounded with a snarl, driving his spear at Akane's unprotected
back as she turned to sent the boy she had protected to safety on her
off side. Then Ranma flashed into range, sending Tenchuu smashing into
the shaft of the spear. But the shaft rebounded the sword-strike, to
her distant shock, and Jei's instant counter flung Ranma back a dozen
yards, rotating in mid-air and looking for a landing place. 

Akane sent her charge toward safety with a massive shove and began to
turn at bay. Too late: the spearhead would pierce her before she could
evade, she saw distantly. Which was why the black, metallic ribbon that
flashed out of nowhere and tugged the spear-shaft far enough aside to
miss and plow into the wall, instead of Akane, came as a complete shock
to everyone. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Kuno Kodachi had hidden in the shadows beside the wall of Furinkan and
observed the events of the morning. She was especially concerned with
finding out who had so injured her brother, but since he had told her
none of the details, she kept a look-out for anything unusual. 

The shortish redhead with the aura of power almost visible to the naked
eye was certainly unusual, she felt.

Furthermore, her brother had not mentioned her even in passing, as he
surely would have under normal circumstances, and she was in the
company of another girl, whom Kodachi recognized as the "Beauteous
Tiger" of her brother's fevered ranting, Tendo Akane, albeit much
altered from the frumpy girl she had remembered from the last time she
had seen her.

This was, she thought, suggestive, and she had been engaged in
attempting to locate the girl within the building when the screams and
explosions had informed her that matters were becoming very odd and
dangerous indeed. She had left the building by a convenient window and
jumped into the trees, through which she had moved to a position just
over the confrontation by the wall, observing the battle in awe. Seeing
Akane's peril, she saw also an opportunity to intervene -- and prove
her own battle-worth in a theater of the utmost truth -- and had
intercepted the demon's spear with her ribbon.

Jei's counter pull of the shaft had ripped her from the tree and
several yards further into the schoolyard, but she had anticipated
this, and landed with all the grace of her gymnastic art, then turned
and began to unleash a peroration that would surely stop the monster in
its tracks and lead directly to its defeat. "Hold, monster! For now
..." 

Ranma rebounded in mid-air and turned to the attack as Jei took the
opportunity to dispose of at least one opponent and struck directly for
Akane's heart.

"... you face the wrath ..."

Akane declined to be spitted and counterattacked before Jei could drive
home his spear, catching the spear-shaft just behind the head with the
odd speed she suddenly seemed to have acquired, and putting a circle
kick from the hip into Jei's mid-section.

"... of the Black Rose ..."

Jei was driven back by the kick, and Ranma altered her trajectory to
track him as he stumbled into range of Kodachi, and felt that one foe
was as good as another.

" ...Ugghkk." Kodachi gasped, as her speech was rudely interrupted by
the butt of Jei's spear driving past her defense to slam into her
midriff, tearing her leotard and breaking several ribs. 

The but was followed by the spearhead, rotating like a fan blade as Jei
drove it in an arc that would have torn through her heart, while
gathering a sickly luminescent fox-fire to his off hand. Would have,
except for Ranma's fall from the heavens, to cut through Jei's arm,
severing it briefly and reducing the wound to a three inch deep cut
across and through several ribs and deeply into the muscle of her left
arm. The fireball that followed as Jei fell away from Ranma's strike
spattered across Kodachi regardless of Ranma's swatting, ki-charged
hand, and she fell backwards, crippled, bleeding and aflame. 

Some distance away, a young man who had been engaged in the occupation
of shepherding students away from the fight looked up, and ran to her
side with a shriek of rage and pain, "Sister! No!" 

Jei regained his feet with a snarl, but Ranma had seen enough. She had
the measure of his defense now, and it only remained to accomplish the
attack that would destroy him. She kept him on the defensive with a
barrage of mini- lightning bolts as she closed, followed by a
blistering exchange of fists, feet, spear strokes and sword blows that
maneuvered Jei into the position she wanted.

Tatewaki reached his sister's side just as Ranma put Jei in the
position she wanted him in. "_NOW_ Akane," she roared. 

And Akane, seeing her chance, snatched up the central pillar, now
detached, of the desk she had previously used, and charged into Jei's
back, using the pillar as an improvised club. An attack that was fully
successful in all ways except one: she got the angle to hit him at
slightly wrong. 

Jei did not fly in the direction Ranma had wanted, nor did he go as
far, and Ranma altered direction again, on the ground this time, as
Tatewaki reacted to the presence of the beast that had wounded his
sister with the beginnings of the best attack he could muster, his
bokken blurring in the air. "Dadadadadadadadadada" 

Jei, of course, ignored the attack, bringing the shaft of his spear
over his head and down onto Tatewaki, sending the bokken from his hand
and dropping him, stunned, across his sister's body. Akane followed up
her original attack before he could reverse and use the blade, shoving
him forcefully a couple of feet away, and following up to grab the
fallen bokken as she sprawled across the pile of Kunos. 

She turned over desperately, bringing the bokken around to block the
descending spear-point away so that it thudded into the dirt beside
her, and then continuing with the only attack she could muster from her
position flat on her back on the ground. An attack that she knew was
inadequate, possessing as she did only the mediocre skill gained by her
desultory studies previously and one day of Ranma's instruction. An
attack that was, nonetheless, the only thing she had. 

A kick straight up, with all the force that was in her, past Jei's
defense and into his groin. It lifted him up six inches, to a roar of
shock and hate; forced his hands up, locked around the spear-shaft for
the downward, unstoppable strike that would skewer her, Tatewaki and
Kodachi all three; and gave Ranma one single, unobserved, unoccupied
second.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

It was enough. 

A roaring wind blew Jei away from the sprawled pile, as Ranma smashed
into him. A hail of sword blows from all angles taxed his regenerative
capabilities and eroded the defense of his ki-shield. A simultaneous
flurry of ki-charged one-finger strikes pelted him, whirling him around
and around and setting his ki to boiling heat, as Ranma sent herself
into a countering circle, matching his spin and dropping her ki to
freezing before she called the wind again. 

"Hiryuu. Shouten. Haaa!" 

The Rising Dragon Ascension Strike flamed inward from a circle ten
yards across and lifted Jei in a roaring cyclone into the sky. Ranma
followed after, riding the wind that was Jei's enemy, returning Tenchuu
to her jacket with a snap and drawing a phurba of meteoric iron. This
she threw straight upward, through Jei's abdomen, and sent the
lightning of the storm after it, upward from the ground to the dagger's
place at the apex of the cyclone, damaging Jei past the momentary
limits of his regeneration and removing half of his remaining shield. 

Ranma herself rode the lightning-charged storm-wind upward, speeding
past Jei to the top of the funnel-cloud; catching the dagger as it
peaked above Jei's form, momentarily held in equilibrium between wind
and gravity. And then Ranma called the wind up into a vortex just above
the previous apex of the storm and let Jei fall. 

She followed his descent with another throw of the phurba, again
striking through Jei's body, to thud into the ground far below, again
followed by the fury of the storm, shredding the rest of Jei's shield
and wounding him deeply.

Jei snarled hatred and snapped his spear around to guard. Ranma could
not now put another missile past his guard, and to injure him again she
must go down, and thus into his range. And then Ranma played her trump
card, pulling from Jacket-space a weapon that Jei could only vaguely
place. Some kind of one-hand arquebus, he thought, but surely too small
to .... 

The IMI Desert Eagle .50AE automatic pistol has been called many things
in the world of things that go boom. 

Too small has rarely been among them. 

A *CHK-Klack* announced that Ranma's invisibly fast hands had racked
the slide. And then the enormous pistol roared, and the recoil hammered
at Ranma's solid grip. 

And once again the World's Biggest Handgun proved itself adequate to
the task. Just.

Eight times it spoke and eight bullets flew; each jacketed, solid core
hollow point missile carrying, locked to the iron spike at the core of
its leaden mass, as much of Ranma's ki as she could shove into it while
pulling the trigger. 

Each packet of ki was dedicated to the goal of expanding its bullet
explosively just before it entered Jei's body and then holding the lead
and iron in a specific shape during its passage, regardless of the
impedance of flesh or bone. Each packet achieved its goal exactly,
punching eight holes in the spear-wolf's body; each in the shape of an
ideograph in a scholar's shorthand of ancient China. 

Eight ideographs relating a saying about men, and butterflies, and the
difficulty of telling the difference. Eight ideographs arranged on
Jei's torso in a pattern tracing out another ideograph in that same
ancient hand; the ideograph called 'Final Emptiness'. The whole
assemblage of ideographs forming a spell of dispersal, scattering Jei's
energy, dispersing his shield, and damaging his soul.

Ranma allowed Jei to fall almost to the ground before using the iron
dagger half-buried in the ground below him to receive the remaining
energy of her storm in one titanic bolt of fury, earthing itself
through Jei's fatally wounded body and knocking the spear sprawling
from his hand at last. 

She herself landed about ten feet away from, and behind, Jei -- now
standing in a wide crater and frantically reaching for enough power to
regenerate his broken body -- and snapped Tenchuu from its resting
place again, sending power through it and waking it to furious, burning
life.

Then Ranma jumped backwards, past Jei again, Tenchuu flashing. She
carved another ideogram through his entire body with her sword: two
inward curving lines, each continuing from its bottom up into a
crossing loop, forming a symbol not unlike a "W" with a loop extending
above the middle point. Then continuing in a single motion over the top
of the outer points, closing the curve and leaving only the central
loop above it.

Ranma landed in front of Jei at a distance of no more than three feet.
Jei, incapable of movement and with all his defenses down, could only
watch Ranma's cool emotionless face as she drew back her sword. And
then she struck - straight through the center of the ideogram she had
cut into his flesh - and also straight through his heart.

Jei exploded into a towering pillar of flame, and Ranma withdrew her
sword and re-sheathed it, waiting. The flame burned itself out in
moments, revealing the various limbs and pieces of his torso falling to
earth, smeared with an odd, green, burnt looking ichor; and a wide-
winged butterfly of an evil green hue, hanging where the ideogram had
been, sending up a high pitched, wailing keen, and burning. Ranma
swatted it from the air with a ki-sheathed hand, and ground it
underfoot.

Then Ranma returned from zanshin, and called a slow, pulsing fire to
her hand. "Come back from _that_, you pustule on the backside of
divinity," she snarled bitterly, using pulses of the flame to burn the
corpse of the butterfly to ash, and set the remaining pieces of Jei's
corpse afire.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Akane was just struggling to her feet again as Ranma turned from the
evilly smoking fires. She was aching, burnt, scratched in several
places, bore more bruises, scrapes and minor cuts than she could bear
to think about, and the only thing she wanted was for Ranma to tell her
that it was over. Ranma pulled her into a brief, hard hug and
whispered, "You did great, Akane-chan!"

Ranma thumped her briefly on the shoulder and let her go, grinning at
her widely for a moment. Then Ranma turned to the gate of Furinkan,
walking over to check on the body there, and Akane bent down again to
help Kodachi and Tatewaki.

Ranma came to Nagao's body, and knelt down. She could easily see that
he was dead, but she used ki-sight anyway, to make sure. Then she
gently closed his staring eyes, and stood up looking over at the gate
to see what she had noticed from the corner of her eye. It was a
briefcase, which she picked up, examined, and then quickly brought over
to Akane, who was standing next to the Kunos and talking to Nabiki, who
had summoned medical and police units to the school.

"What's wrong, Ranma?" Akane noted her friend's grim expression. Ranma
held up the case, so Akane could see what was written there: Asano, S.,
and an address. Akane's eyes went wide in horror.
 
"Do you know where this is, Akane-chan?" And at her nod, "Then I think,
Nabiki, that you should call aid to that address, too. And I think that
Akane and I should go there now, as well. And I think that we should
run."

Akane nodded jerkily and ran toward the gate, waving her hand toward
Sayuri's distant house. "She's over that way, Ranma. But the fastest
way there is...."

She was interrupted by the feeling of arms around her waist, and jerked
into the sky. Landing on the roof in the appropriate direction Ranma
flowed into a smooth run, leaping gaps in the roof line with focused
unconcern. Akane followed, gulping in trepidation at the gaps she would
have to jump, but making no protest.

Across Nerima they traveled in leaps and bounds, Akane leading Ranma
across the roof-tops in as straight a line as she could, bypassing the
traffic on the crowded streets below. Shortly, they heard the rising
wail of sirens, and Ranma suddenly snarled an oath. "I can feel it now
unblocked, Akane-chan, I've gotta hurry," she snapped out, before
blurring into a red and black streak.

Akane followed as quickly as she could and reached the roof line over
Sayuri's house to find Ranma picking herself up from the ground,
smoking slightly, and a dozen paramedics charging the door. "Wait,"
Ranma roared uselessly, "the bloody thing's ...." The paramedics hit
the door and were thrown back, injured, by a burst of green fire. "...
warded. Damn!"

Akane jumped down, as Ranma snapped back to her feet and stalked
forward, snarling, "Get _back_ you fools, there's magic here!" 

Ranma jogged up to the door and raised her hand, ki coalescing around
it in an in-drawing vortex. She thrust her hand forward in the same
gesture she had used earlier, outer fingers vee-ed and inners curling,
and burned a circle of green fire into the air before the doorway. 

The door collapsed into dust as the circle of fire exploded around the
house, blowing everyone in a block's radius except those behind Ranma
flat to the ground. 

The door vanished, and Ranma strode forward, hand at her side, ki still
gathered. Akane followed after, as did those paramedics and police
still on their feet. The darkness within shifted like a living thing,
snarling and drawing down, choking. Ranma pulsed ki to her hand,
drawing the dark close about it, and then shifted an internal polarity,
and expressed the ki of the vortex she had generated as sunlight. 

A brilliant flash of light destroyed the darkness, burning down its
resistance and banishing it with a fading wail. Ranma glided into the
house; glancing at the older woman laying in the doorway with a broad
spear mark through her outer chest she left the body to others and went
directly to the small body laying nearly hidden in another room. 

Kneeling down, she checked Sayuri's ki with a sinking heart, but then
snapped her head upward to Akane with burning but worried eyes. "She's
still alive! But she's not breathing, and she's fading fast! Get help,
and I'll try to call her back."

Akane spun and ran to the other part of the house, to fetch a medic,
and Ranma gathered all the ki she could at short notice, then struck
one hand downward toward Sayuri's chest; her aura flaming into new life
as it went, ki curling about it ready to call the body beneath her back
to life ....

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Ranma and Akane: A Love Story
Chapter 3: The Third Day
Part C: Pursuit to Destruction; East Wind, Rain.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Kodachi had been taken away in an ambulance, only one of many that day.
Nabiki and Yuka were assisting the doctors that were dealing with the
last of the students injured by flying debris. Both had done yeoman
service to triage the wounded and traumatized, and in running errands
for the medical effort that had, by now, sucked in every available
doctor or medtech in Nerima ward. 

Nabiki had been especially active in calming and restraining those who
had been injured most severely while the medics tended to them;
extracting debris from their injuries, or hastily bandaging wounds and
setting limbs in preparation for their transportation to local
hospitals. 

Currently, the two girls were aiding Dr. Tofu by handing him his
supplies and tools while he aligned and set a number of broken ribs
belonging to a sophomore who had been trampled and kicked into a corner
in class 1-D's mad scramble to quit the ground floor during the attack. 

Nabiki looked up from the last patient as that unfortunate was loaded
onto a stretcher for transport. A very bedraggled looking Akane was
dragging into Furinkan's yard, wobbling along behind Ranma, who herself
appeared less than entirely perky. 

The two martial artists came over to where Nabiki was standing, Ranma
greeting her wearily while Akane stopped walking and leaned against
Ranma's shoulder, closing her eyes.

"Nabiki-san," Ranma opened the conversation in a tired voice, "I see
that you're helping with the wounded. Can you give me an estimate of
the total casualty list, please?"

Nabiki rubbed her eyes with blood-stained hands. "I don't know the full
list yet, Ranma-san. The last I'd heard there were seventeen confirmed
dead. I think the total of seriously injured is going to stop at 40.
Minor injuries and, err, _mental_ trauma ...." Nabiki turned to where a
clump of pale, shaking students were huddling against the wall, seeking
comfort in numbers, and shrugged helplessly.

Ranma nodded wearily. "You can add two more to the seriously wounded
list then. Asano-bodou was stabbed in the chest by Our Friend, but he
seems to have missed the heart, and the medics said she has a fair
chance. Sayuri-chan was strangled, and while she's still alive she
seems to be in a deep coma, at the moment."

Nabiki glanced sideways at Yuka, who was trembling and clenching her
hands together. Quietly, she asked, "Will she survive, long term, do
you think?"

Ranma rubbed her temples briefly. "There's no good reason why she
wouldn't, I think. The physical trauma doesn't seem to be too severe.
What mental trauma she may be suffering, and when she'll wake up...."
Ranma shrugged in her own turn.

Yuka wailed and buried her face in Nabiki's shoulder. Nabiki awkwardly
attempted to comfort her and Ranma put a hand on Yuka's shoulder,
saying, "Don't give up hope Yuka-chan. Sayuri-chan is very brave, and
the hospital hasn't even begun to care for her yet. And I'm not out of
resources myself, for that matter. But I think, for now, that it's
better to let the professionals handle things. 

"And speaking of _things_, Nabiki, do you know what happened to Jei's
corpse and his spear?" 

"I just saw ..." Nabiki mumbled, "Oh yes! A police van came, gathered
it all up and took it away. And I'm just as glad; even dead that thing
gave me a creepy feeling!"

"I don't blame you at all Nabiki-san. I just wanted a closer look at
the spear, but I suppose that I can do that later." She turned her hand
under her gaze and considered the ichor crusted under the nails. "I'd
like to get clean first, at least. Do you think you're going to need
Akane or I around here any more today?"

"No, Ranma, I don't think so. Go on back to the Dojo and see if you can
get Akane-imouto to go to sleep."

Akane snorted, weakly. "Sleep. Feh. _Bath_."

Ranma grinned, "Indeed. _Bath_. I may even beg one from Kasumi-san
myself."

Nabiki grinned over her shoulder as she ushered Yuka to where she could
sit down, and shook a fist at them. "Use up all the hot water and you
answer to me," she mock-threatened.

Ranma's grin turned crooked, and she half-turned from her course to
sweep a bow. "We shall faithfully avoid the invocation of your wrath,
Nabiki-san." She urged the wobbly Akane out the gate, and then was
gone.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

"Tadaima!"

"Oh, my, I hope that's...." Kasumi had been beside herself with worry.
Father had managed to tell her that _something_ bad had happened. From
context she had assumed that something was wrong with Akane or Nabiki,
but his tears had managed to short out both the TV and the radio, and
he simply was not coherent enough to tell her what was wrong. She dared
not leave him alone to seek out the neighbors, and Tofu-san seemed not
to be answering his phone, but if they were capable of calling out then
surely it couldn't be _that_ bad. Could it?

Hurrying to the front room, she assessed the condition of Akane-chan
and that nice young Ranma-san and rapidly revised her opinion: it
wasn't that bad, it was worse. Only one comment seemed appropriate.
"Oh, my!" 

Ranma looked up at Kasumi's entrance, steering Akane gently toward the
furo. "We're both mostly alright, Kasumi-san, but we badly need a bath.
Is the furo hot?"

Kasumi nodded helplessly; they didn't _seem_ alright. Akane was a
complete mess: dirty, scratched, her new clothes in complete ruination,
and was that dark substance half covering her arms, legs and back
_blood_? 

Ranma hardly looked better, mainly a matter of fewer areas messed up,
but some of the stains were a loathsome looking green that made her
head hurt just to _consider_ trying to get out. Nonetheless she nodded
affirmatively to Ranma's question, then, as Ranma moved Akane along
toward the bath, burst out, "Ranma-san, what happened?!"

Ranma turned around briefly and saw Soun hovering at the entrance to
the living room, then sent Akane on toward the bath and answered. "A
monster attacked the school, Kasumi-san. We killed it, but there were a
number of casualties. The authorities seemed to have the matter in
hand, so I felt that Akane needed to get home immediately, and take a
bath, and probably a nap. With your permission?"

Kasumi nodded and turned back to Father, who had burst out in fresh
tears. "Now, now, Father, you heard Ranma-san; both the girls are all
right and...." She herded him back into his room to have a lie-down and
thought, 'A monster. Oh, my!'

-----------------------------------------------------------------------


Ranma ignored the clothes heaped untidily on the floor, and quickly
stripped. Picking up the water pail and soap, she spent several minutes
firmly scrubbing out the ichor and gore that encrusted several areas of
her arms and legs, then filled up the pail again and soaped the rest of
her body before dumping the pail of water over her head to rinse off. 

Then she walked over to Akane, who was sitting on a stool, staring at
her blood-stained hands and feebly attempting to scrub the stains off.
Ranma took the soap and washcloth from Akane's unresisting hands and
used them to quickly rid her of her unwanted decorations, then rinsed
her off and put her into the tub to soak, joining her soon thereafter. 

Ranma settled back into the steaming water and felt her muscles relax,
but she noted that Akane was not relaxing, and was, in fact, on the
verge of tears. She let Akane have a minute of silence, then gently
asked, "Want to talk about it?"

Akane sniffed and shook her head, "N-no, Ranchan, I'll be alright, just
... could you sing for me, something ...."

Ranma suddenly found her vision obscured, a gust of steam had no doubt
chosen to make a wrong turn. "Sure, _Acchan_, I'll sing something. You
just relax, now. Maybe try to go to sleep." 

     That pair in the corner,
     They're here every Tuesday,
     They come when the market 
     First opens its stalls.
     And it's got so that lately
     I'll wait just to see them,
     Their heads bent together,
     As they come down the hall.

And Akane felt herself, very slowly, begin to relax. Felt the pains of
the day roll away. Felt the horror, and the fear, and, what she felt
was worst of all -- the strange, singing joy -- begin to fade. Felt the
aches and bruises and the tiredness which denied even sleep or rest
begin to heal. 

     And her hair has grown whiter,
     His has grown thinner,
     And their pace has slowed down
     As the years have grown long.
     But they keep step together
     'Mongst strangers who hurry,
     These two old companions,
     Walking slowly along.

Washed away, so to speak, by steaming water. Soothed by safety and
kindness, and a place to relax. Eased by an easing of stress and fear. 

     They always take the same table
     And they open their menus,
     And I watch as his hand 
     Reaches out to touch hers,
     And she, with the other, 
     Reaches under her chair,
     And fumbles her glasses 
     From out of her purse.

Healed and lulled to sleep by a glorious, contralto voice. A voice that
washed over her and swept through her. A voice that eased her sorrows
without trivializing them. A voice that understood terror and the
bloodlust she had found herself fighting, but that had triumphed over
them.
     
     And she reads him the specials,
     He does the ordering,
     They joke with the waitress, 
     About watching their weight,
     But the waitress says nothing, 
     She just snaps her gum
     And then brings their dessert,
     That they'll share from one plate.

She sat back, finally, and relaxed her muscles one by one. Met her fear
and disgust head on, and found them to be less terrible than she had
earlier imagined; and, slowly, began to master them.

     Sometimes I watch them too closely,
     They notice me staring
     And they smile at me vaguely,
     Not really seeing my face.
     But they know I'm a stranger,
     Not one of their friends
     Who have died, or long since
     Moved away from this place.

And settled back into a drifting haze, and let a golden voice sink into
her. And gave up her control over her emotions at last, and gently
began to weep.

     They keep to themselves,
     They're each other's shelter,
     Two hearts grown together,
     Two parts of a whole.
     And I smile at them shyly,
     I know I intrude, on this 
     Pair of old lovers,
     And I turn and I go.

And, as she drifted further from consciousness and the cares of the
day, seemed to see before her a vision.

     But, you know that I've seen them
     As they leave the cafe',
     He pulls out her chair,
     And he helps her to stand,
     And he holds out her coat,
     And he hugs it around her
     And together they leave,
     Holding each other's hand.

A vision of herself, older, gray haired. Resting in another furo. And
placing a hand, scarred but still strong, lovingly on the back of the
head resting on her shoulder. A head in whose hair, also mostly gray,
could still be seen the occasional strand of flaming, sunset red. 

     And there's a love beyond words
     In their every small gesture,
     As the two old companions 
     Make their way through the town
     There's a love beyond name, 
          beyond years, 
               beyond measure.
     And the days that they share
     Are the stars in their crown.

And gently slipped into slumber, and dreamed of something unseen.
Something which she loved with all her heart, and which brought her
great joy. But what it was, when she woke up, she was unable to recall. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Akane awoke slowly, to a background of humming and soft, mumbled
curses. She was lying in her bed and clothed in her nightgown, but it
seemed to be daylight. For a moment she could not remember why she
might be asleep so late in the day, but then memory returned and she
realized that it must be later in the same day; by the angle of the
light coming in the window she could see it was sometime just
afternoon.

Akane sat up and perched on the edge of her mattress, blinking around
her with still sleepy eyes. There were, she noticed, two things about
the room that were different from the way she had left it this morning. 

The first was the tray-table by the side of her futon, loaded with a
tray carrying lunch. The second was Ranma, sitting at her desk, wearing
one of her old overalls and a shirt slightly too small for her -- and,
she noticed, no bra -- and bent over a homework assignment in math,
which she appeared to be making heavy weather of.

Akane absently ate her lunch while she tried to make some sense of the
events of the day. She finished just as Ranma hissed in frustration,
crumpled the scratch sheet of paper she was working with, and threw it
across the room. "Stupid thing," she pouted, "I don't think it even
_has_ a solution!" Turning around she grinned at Akane, "Awake at last!
Did you enjoy your lunch ... Acchan?"

Akane blinkied, 'Acchan? What ... ohmikami ... the furo! What'll she
think of me?' Her hands flew to her face in dismay as she blushed a
fiery red.

Ranma's grin moderated itself into a gentle smile. "No, Akane, I'm not
mad. In fact, the only other person who has ever called me that was the
very first friend I ever made. I am more honored than I can say that
you have chosen to be the second."

This did not particularly seem to help Akane's blush, and she looked
down at her folded hands bashfully. "Ar-are you sure, Ranma?" She
looked up at the redhead where she sat at the desk. "I've never, that
is ...." 

Ranma rose lithely to her feet, and crossed the room to where Akane
sat, hugging her fiercely. "I'm sure, Acchan. As long as you promise to
stay my friend."

Akane told the sudden tears to go away and hugged her friend back,
trying to place the sudden thumping in her chest. "I promise, Ranchan.
As long as you promise too."

Ranma stepped back and extended a pinky, her grin almost splitting her
face. "I promise."

Akane hooked her pinky through Ranma's and gripped, feeling a grin
taking over her face as well. "I promise too."

Ranma held the pinky grip a moment, and then stepped back, crossing her
arms over her chest. "Which does _not_, however, get you off of getting
beaten on during training."

Akane's grin turned crooked, "Wouldn't want it to." Then, jerking her
head at the desk, "What's got you so happy over there?" 

"Oh, you would remind me. Feh." Ranma blew her cheeks out and sighed.
She walked back to the desk and sat down, Akane following behind her,
and picked up her pencil. "It's a 'Problem of Multiple Variables in
Multiple Equations' if you please. Bah!"

Akane leaned over Ranma's shoulder and looked at the problem. "This one
doesn't seem _that_ hard, Ranchan."

"Hah! So you say, but look at this! These things don't even have the
same terms in them!"

Akane chuckled and took the pencil from Ranma's hand. "You're trying
too hard, Ranchan. See, you take this equation here -- it reduces to
_this_ variable, see? So you replace the instances of that variable in
_this_ equation and then you ...."

Fainter now, lower in tone "Oh, that's how... Neat, Acchan! But now
how...."

Fainter yet, "You just...."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Nabiki had come home soon after noon, and had eaten a sandwich before
even seeking the furo. Now, around two in the afternoon, she had just
come from a _long_ soak in the hot water, new clothes, and another
large meal, and was beginning to feel human again. She pushed back her
plate and turned to Kasumi, questioning, "Oneechan, where is everybody
else?"

"Father is sleeping in his room, Nabiki-chan, he took the news very
hard. Ranma-san and Akane-chan are training, I believe." She turned
around and caught Nabiki's eyes, "I didn't get many details, imouto-
chan, how was it, really?"

Nabiki shuddered violently, "If it hadn't been for Ranma-san we'd have
all been killed, oneechan. And if Akane-chan hadn't _attacked_ the
thing I don't know if even Ranma-san could have killed it. It just
wouldn't _die_, not even when she cut its head off!" She shuddered
again.
 
Kasumi knelt by her and gathered her into a hug, "Akane-chan fighting
monsters. Who would have thought?"

Nabiki pushed herself back from the hug, "You said they were training,
oneechan? Do you know where they are? I need to talk to Ranma-san." 

Kasumi frowned slightly, "Be careful, Nabiki-chan."

Nabiki shook her head, "I will be, oneechan. I owe her my life, and so
does Akane-chan. But we need to know more about her. I think she _knew_
or recognized that thing today. What if there's more of them?" 

Kasumi nodded seriously.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Ranma flowed out of the way of Akane's kick and thumped her on the
head, then called a halt. "Break, Acchan, I've got what I needed, and
you're getting sloppy."

She put her back to the dojo wall and placed one foot against it,
crossed her arms, and considered Akane, waiting for her to regain her
breath. "And besides, I think your sister wants something." 

Nabiki moved out from the entrance where she had been lurking just out
of view. "Looking good, Akane-chan, what were you doing just then?" 

Ranma answered, "Just general assessment work Nabiki-san. I want to
make sure that I know where Acchan is _now_, so I can figure where she
needs to go. It's the first time I've really had a student, and I want
to be sure I get it right."

Nabiki raised an eyebrow, and Akane stopped panting long enough to
wheeze out, "You talk to Nabiki-oneechan, Ranchan, I'm gonna lie down
and pant for a while." She walked to the wall and sat down beside it,
then flopped down on her back and lay panting.

Nabiki raised the other eyebrow, 'Acchan? Ranchan? Geeze, what went
_on_ in that furo, anyway?', but allowed no other sign to cross her
face; instead she sweetly inquired, "Should we get out of your way and
let you take a nap, Akane-chan?"

Akane turned half over and red-eyed her, "Biiiii-da!"

Ranma smirked, "Was there something you wanted, Nabiki-san, or is this
just one of those sibling rivalry things?"

Nabiki turned back to her, and turned serious at the same time. "Yes,
Ranma-san, there was. It's about that monster this morning. You acted
as though you knew him."

"That would be because I did know him, Nabiki-san." She pushed her
tongue into her cheek for a moment, "Mind you, the last time I saw him
there was nothing left but bones, which had just been buried under the
ruins of a stone tower, underneath which were several tons of
gunpowder. Which went off immediately thereafter. So I didn't really
suspect that I'd ever see him _again_, but...."

She considered Nabiki's face for a moment, "But I suspect that what you
actually _want_ is the story, ne?"

Nabiki buffed her nails for a moment, "Why, yes Ranma-san, I believe it
is. Unless," she added calmly, "you would prefer not to tell it?" 

"No, no, it's not secret. It is kind of long though. It might be a good
idea to have Kasumi-san make some snacks and tea. Since I suspect that
she might wish to hear it too."

"For some odd reason," Nabiki refrained from smirking, "she has, in
fact, just finished making some."

Ranma arched an eyebrow of her own. "Preplanning. The sure sign of a
conspiracy. Come, Acchan, we are summoned to Tea."

Akane groaned, "What do you mean, 'We', barbarian?"

"I mean _we_, shirker. As in _you_ and _I_. Because _I_ am summoned by
your sister, and _you_ are summoned by me."

Akane groaned again, and rolled over, coming to her knees. "Ohhhh. My
sensei is a bully."

"All sensei are bullies, Acchan." Ranma bopped her on the head,"It's
the notable trait of the type." 

And Kasumi came through the door with a tray.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

The girls were seated in a circle around the tray, sitting in the
middle of the dojo floor. Ranma blew softly on a teacup to cool it, and
crooked a grin through the steam at the others. 

     So. The story. I should start at the beginning, I guess. And
     the beginning .... (Her eyes focused on something far away,
     or perhaps long ago, then refocused on the girls.) The
     beginning starts with my Dad. Oyaji. And the things you need
     to know about Oyaji number three. 

     First, he's a Martial Artist.Second, he is of Low Moral
     Character. And third, he's an Idiot.
 
Nabiki *snrrked* and Akane frowned, glaring at someone non-present. 

     (Ranma grinned crookedly.) Because he's a Martial Artist, he
     wanted me to be one too. Because he's an Idiot, he just knew
     that this noble goal could not possibly be attempted around
     my mother. So he took the opportunity, when I was five, to
     take me away on a long training trip, and never bring me
     back. And because he is of Low Moral Character we spent the
     next six and a half years running from place to place.
     Generally, I realize now, to escape some debt or other, or
     get away from the blame for some theft or scam.

     Now, when I was eleven or so, Oyaji found, or bought, or
     stole, or _something_, this book. These books, actually --
     there were two of them. 

     The first was a Chinese ... guide to training grounds, I
     guess. It had only been translated a little and most of the
     text was still in Chinese, which Oyaji didn't know how to
     read, but he still got all excited about 'the marvelous
     possibilities to seek out strengthening struggle in the
     service of our Art'. (Ranma's voice went very pompous for a
     moment, then returned to normal.) Feh. 

     Anyway, the _other_ book was a manual of 'Rare and Forbidden
     Training Methods'. One of these was the 'Neko-ken', a
     supposed way to train a subject in an Invincible Martial Arts
     Special Technique. (Ranma's mouth twisted momentarily, and
     she sighed.)

     What you do, the book said, is you take the trainee, and the
     younger the better, and you cover him or her with fish
     sausage. Then you find yourself a pit, and put a bunch of
     starving ca-ca- ... cats into it. And then you take the
     trainee, and you throw him, or her, in. In the pit, in case
     that wasn't clear.

     (Ranma's face was still and far away, Akane's and Kasumi's
     were nearly identical masks of horror, and Nabiki's was as
     set and still as stone. Ranma's eyes refocused suddenly, and
     she continued.) Then, on the next page of the book, it says
     that the _reason_ this technique is 'Rare and Forbidden' is
     that; One - it doesn't work, and Two - only a complete idiot
     would try it in the first place. 

     The trouble is, Oyaji _is_ a complete idiot, and he didn't
     _read_ that far. (Ranma's mouth twisted again, and she
     sighed.)

Nabiki's face was terrible in its stillness, but her voice was gentle,
"So what _does_ the training do Ranma-san?"

Ranma's voice was equally gentle. "It makes you afraid of cats, Nabiki-
san."

Kasumi buried her face in her hands, and Akane's face began to twist in
anger, as Nabiki's control broke at last. "No! I never _would_ have
guessed that!" she snarled, "So what did the _genius_ do then?" 

Ranma smiled sadly, and quirked an eyebrow. 

     Why he devoted the full force of his Martial Intellect to the
     problem, of course. And quickly determined the source of the
     error. 

     It was quite clear; the author of the book had _hidden_ the
     critical detail! Oh, yes! It simply had to be a question of
     the _bait_ you used, you see. 

     And he set out to resolve the detail in the finest scientific
     fashion. Oh, yes! He repeated the experiment, only using fish
     cakes, instead. 

     And then he tried dried bream. 

     And then he tried salmon. 

     And then he tried varied sushi. 

     And then he tried octopus and squid. 

     And then he tried octopus _by itself_. 

     And then....

Akane broke, and hurled herself into Ranma's shoulder, wailing. Kasumi
turned her head, sobbing muffledly into her hands. Ranma gently
massaged the back of Akane's neck and *hssh*d. 

     Finally, it developed that, if you pursue your course with
     unrelenting intensity, you will, in fact, teach the trainee
     an Invincible Technique. The fact that the training will have
     driven her psychotic by that point is surely a minor detail
     by comparison, ne?

"So, what happened then?" Nabiki asked, soothing Kasumi. 

     Well, I managed to avoid killing him about three times in the
     next week ("Damn!" Nabiki interjected.) but I knew that I
     couldn't do it forever. 

     The problem, you see, is that the Invincible Technique works
     by turning part of your soul into the soul of a cat. And it's
     the cat that controls the technique. A cat that doesn't have
     a bunch of stuff it wants to have -- like fur, and a tail --
     and does have a bunch of stuff it doesn't want to have --
     like hands, and upright posture -- and which is trying to
     contend with being half-human as well, and which is,
     therefore, Righteously Pissed Off. 

"So what did *snnf*, what did you do, Ranchan?"

     I beat him up, (Ranma shrugged) and told him that I was
     leaving. He'd had six and a half years to train me and see
     what I'd gotten from it. Then he wailed and whined until I
     said I'd come back in another six and a half years and see
     which of us had done a better job. 

     If I could beat him, he'd acknowledge me as the head of the
     school, and go back to work to help support it until I got it
     back on its feet. If I lost I'd go back to training under him
     at whatever he wanted.

     He said he'd meet me at this training ground in China he'd
     just found in the _other_ book he'd got: a place in Qing-hai
     province up against the Byankala range. Said it was named
     Jhusenkyou. I promised I'd be there and left. That was five
     years and eleven months ago.

Ranma poured herself another cup of tea and blew on it, gazing at the
sisters through the steam until a measure of calm was restored.

     When I left Oyaji I went hunting something that could help me
     with controlling the cat. I finally wound up at a Zen
     monastery in northern Hokkaido, where I spent the next six
     months. 

     When I left the monastery, I had managed to stuff the cat
     down under deep control and the Neko-ken with it. Although I
     _am_ still afraid of cats, I don't go berserk unless I can't
     get away from them.

     Then I headed into China, and made my way north, to
     Jhusenkyou. The idea I had, you see, was that -- if this
     place _was_ the wonderful training ground Oyaji was so fired
     up about -- then I could study there. If it wasn't I'd still
     have gotten an idea about the lay of the land, maybe enough
     to give me an edge in case Oyaji actually managed to put up a
     fight.

     There isn't much to say about the trip ... well, actually
     that's not true. There's a lot to say about the trip, but
     that's not the story I'm telling, so I won't digress into it.

Ranma paused for a moment, and sipped her tea. 

     The only item of real interest to _this_ story happened when,
     one day, I was walking along a road in Qing-hai itself. I was
     trying to find out where the bloody training ground actually
     _was_, and I came round the corner of a hill, and nearly
     walked into this girl. 

     She had purple hair, was wielding these silly-looking mace
     thingies, I later learned that they were a local weapon
     called bonbori, and was trying to stare down a tiger.

     Now, it's an interesting thing to say, but the 'training'
     Oyaji put me through did seem to have _one_ good effect; I'm
     afraid of cats, yes, but only _house_ cats. Other kinds, like
     tigers, don't affect me at all. Plus which, the phobia about
     cats seems to have sucked up all the fear I have in me. On
     the one hand, that means that when the nekophobia hits it
     hits _hard_; but on the other hand, I don't have much left
     for anything _else_, so when I get into situations like that
     I don't panic. 

     Which was a good thing, at the time. Anyway, I remembered
     about some animals making themselves look bigger and louder
     to frighten off an attacker, and figured that I didn't have
     much to lose. So I jumped up _way_ high and _yelled_ at the
     top of my lungs. And it must have worked, 'cause the tiger
     turned and ran off like his tail was on fire. (Ranma gave
     another grin) Anyway, that was how I met Shan Pu.

     Shan turned out to be the champion-apparent of the village of
     Joketsuzoku -- which is part of the ancestral holdings of the
     Strong-Women-Hero-Tribe, sometimes called the Chinese Amazons
     -- and by the time we got back to her village, she was the
     second friend I'd ever made. So I spent some time in the
     village, and learned a few tricks, and it turned out that
     they _did_ know where Jhusenkyou was, only they didn't want
     to tell _me_.

     It seemed, they said, that the whole valley of Jhusenkyou was
     cursed, and anyone who went there would probably get cursed
     too. Well, I reckoned that I was too smart to fall for an
     obvious dodge like _that_, and one night I snuck out of the
     village and traveled to the valley where Jhusenkyou was.

     I've always wished (Ranma's eyes were far away again) I'd
     listened to Cologne-obaasama; I might have spared myself a
     lot of grief. 

     She'd been right, you see, the valley of Jhusenkyou _is_
     cursed, and if you go there you probably _will_ end up cursed
     too. I don't know what all the curses of Jhusenkyou do, but
     the one thing that they _all_ do is the one thing that really
     makes them curses: after you go there, you live in
     interesting times.

Ranma paused a moment and sipped more tea. 

     And I don't mean 'nice' interesting either. _Not_ nice
     interesting is the order of the day, here. If you stumble,
     you fall down a hill. And there's a dung-heap at the bottom,
     too. And you don't even get to break your fall, oh no,
     there's a rock waiting under it, you can bet. 

     If anything falls out of the sky, it lands on your head. If
     you go through a bush, you find the thorns, and if it doesn't
     _have_ thorns there'll be a bramble growing there, instead.
     If somebody shoots an arrow at you and ten other
     people,_you're_ the one standing in the way.

     Well, I already knew that the Joketsuzoku didn't have any way
     to cure the curses, and I was too embarrassed to go back
     after I ignored their warnings anyway, so I wandered back
     south instead. I never did find a cure for the curse in
     China, but I did finally end up in a place that led to my
     eventually finding one elsewhere, and also to my meeting that
     noble gentleman we entertained earlier today, and to a bunch
     of other stuff as well.

     The reason is this, (she opened her shirt slightly, and took
     an amulet of silver from around her neck, laying it in the
     center of the circle) and how and why I got it is a story in
     itself.

Nabiki picked up the amulet and examined it, showing it to Akane and
Kasumi. It was made of fretted silver, about three inches across,
chased with interlocking dragons and spirits around the outside.
Mounted so as to entirely take up one face of the amulet was a small,
cracked mirror. Mounted on the other side was a triangular piece of
pottery, perhaps two inches on a side, covered with patterns that
looked like stretched cords or ropes. Nabiki turned it over and about
in her hands as Ranma went on. 

     The place I ended up was Hong Kong, and in order to
     understand the story I'm about to tell you have to know the
     one cardinal thing about my character at the time: I was a
     barbarian.

Nabiki raised an eyebrow and smirked, "_At the time_, Ranma-san?" 

"Of course, Nabiki-san. Now, I'm only _uncivilized_."

"Ah. I see. Do go on."

Ranma smirked, herself, and did so. 

     I hadn't been around people much at all, 'cause Oyaji'd moved
     around so much, and I was what you might call 'sheltered'
     about a lot of things as a result. So, when, just after I got
     to the city, I saw this girl who was wearing about half of
     nothing -- and that mostly torn -- all _I_ thought was,
     'isn't that _cold_?'

Nabiki sniggered and both Akane and Kasumi blushed. 

     And when this guy came out of an alley (Ranma's grin turned
     crooked) and pushed her up against a wall, all I thought was
     that he shouldn't use that knife to make a girl cry like
     that. So I took the knife away from him and broke his arms in
     a couple places and ran him off. 

     Then I went to see if the girl was alright. Her name turned
     out to be Masuda Kee, and she was half Japanese, a geisha --
     well, a hitoyodzuma really -- and as far as _I_ could see,
     badly in need of someone to tell her to come in out of the
     rain. 

     Now, at the time, I didn't know the difference between a
     geisha, a hitoyodzuma and a fish-seller; but I did know
     something about surviving on the road, and on the streets as
     well. As it turned out later, Kee-'moutochan did not, being
     of that temperament that fails to concentrate on business
     because it gets too caught up in its work.

Nabiki was keeping her face straight with an effort, and Akane and
Kasumi were reddening alarmingly, but Ranma merely grinned more
crookedly yet. 

     She had offended several of the local street trash by being
     insufficiently grateful for their 'protection' and had
     attracted far too much attention -- and customers -- for
     safety. So I appointed myself as her 'older' sibling, and
     began trying to figure out where to go to hook up with
     someone who could keep track of business for her, and put a
     roof over her head. 

     In the process I managed to offend someone myself. This led
     to my inadvertently eating a plate of mushrooms that had been
     drenched in LSD and laced with about twenty grams of pure
     opium. 

     Fortunately I didn't eat the whole thing, but it was enough
     to addict me badly, and the trip was .... (Ranma shuddered
     briefly) 

     Kee-chan put me to bed and kept me off my feet when I was
     raving, long enough to work through the trip. And it turned
     out to be the solution to her problem, because she rented a
     room from -- and explained her problems to -- someone on the
     shady side who knew someone who knew someone who knew
     someone, who mentioned it to the okaasama of the Dream of the
     Jade Pagoda of the Golden Door of Infinite Bliss.

Nabiki choked briefly, "The Dream of Jade? That's the best pleasure
house in Hong Kong!"

Ranma raised an eyebrow, "Why, yes it is Nabiki-san. And we're all
wondering how it is you came to know that."

Nabiki blushed, but held her chin up. "I keep my ear to the ground,"
she said, attempting to retain what was left of her dignity. 

"Of course you do," Ranma said, straight-faced, "that's perfectly sound
business practice."

Nabiki disdained to reply, and Ranma grinned and continued. 

     Liang-okaasama decided that Lee-chan should go to work for
     her, since the best-- or at least most enthusiastic -- geisha
     in Hong Kong should obviously be working for the best
     pleasure house in Hong Kong. Or the other way 'round,
     depending. So that fixed Lee-imoutochan's problem, and
     provided me, after I recovered, with an opportunity to expand
     my education a bit.

Ranma's eyes twinkled wickedly and Akane's blush expanded visibly.
Kasumi, on the other hand, had achieved the determinedly unaffected
countenance of one who Is Not Hearing This. 

Nabiki coughed, and squeaked "You mean...?"

Ranma fixed her with a very speaking look, and asked, "What would _you_
have done? Besides, can you think of a _better_ time or place?" 

Nabiki muttered something about "twelve", but did not seem otherwise
inclined to reply to this question. Akane was bravely fighting off
unconsciousness from excessive blood drain to the face, but surprised
herself with a giggle. Kasumi was still in the land of the selectively
deaf, and therefore Ranma went on unhindered. 

     That aside, however, and continuing with my story, it was at
     the Golden Door that I met Oniichan Kai. He was a genin for
     the Black Wave Yakuza, (Nabiki started) and he used to bring
     his wife and their daughter to the Golden Door's restaurant
     for dinner. 

     He sort of adopted me at the time, and I always looked on him
     as the big brother I'd never had, and I was friends with
     Oneesan Asako too. Imoutochan Kaiko was my little sister
     along with Kee-chan and for a while there I thought that I'd
     found a family and wouldn't need to go anywhere else while I
     waited to beat up on Oyaji. 

     I'd made contacts with the local Temples too, and I'd go to
     train there, or Kai-oniichan would use his contacts to get me
     some lessons with one of the wandering masters, or he'd train
     me himself, or Liang-okaasama would use her contacts or....

Ranma's eyes were fixed in time and space, looking at something far
away. She sighed and a suspicious glimmer began to gather at the corner
of her eye. 

     I suppose I should have known better. Liang-okaasama had made
     the Golden Door a neutral ground in the Hong Kong underside
     and the city's major underworld clans were sort of united
     around it. Not so much in coalition, as in a mutual
     understanding that violence and unrest was bad for business.

     The Black Wave was one of the three most powerful Yakuza
     clans in the city, along with the Silver Skull and the Golden
     Sword, and they and the most powerful of the Triads enforced
     a sort of peace on the more ... 'established' parts of the
     underworld, as it were.

     Needless to say, some of the _less_ established parts were
     not too happy about that, and one day we found out that this
     guy named Master Po had organized a war. He had been a master
     in one of the older Triads, and was some kind of sorcerer
     too, so he had a fairish amount of support just on his own
     hook; and then he'd organized most of the little gangs and
     rings and such into an army, too. 

     Alongside that, he'd made an alliance with the powers of
     Darkness, and he could command or bargain with the undead, so
     he had about 30 or 40 vampires as shock troops.

Ranma put down her teacup and leaned forward, sighing again. 

     The whole thing was very quiet, but it was also extremely
     ugly and for a while there we were hard pressed. But
     Kai-oniichan organized the enforcers of the major
     organizations into a counter-army, and the temple monks and
     priests made a bunch of peachwood swords and wards and things
     that the vampires couldn't handle, and I got the street-folk
     organized to use them and some basic weaponry and we killed
     all the vamps that didn't run and we drove the upstarts back
     to the wall. 

     Then we were betrayed.

Nabiki spoke up hesitantly, "Ranma-san, I'd heard some rumors about a
big shake-up in one of the major Hong Kong clans a while back, but no
one ever had any details. Could that have been...?"

Ranma nodded, pricking tears. 

     Oyabun Mikoji died very suddenly. It might have been natural,
     he was about 80, but I've always suspected that Po got to him
     somehow. I _know_ he got to others, 'cause Mikoji-dono's
     successor suddenly decided that Master Po had the secret to
     'Eternal Life' and the Black Wave and the Fire Harmony Triad
     switched sides. 

     Maybe Master Po was a vampire himself, and he turned the
     leaders, I don't know. What I do know is that suddenly the
     dead started rising up around our feet, vampires started
     coming out of the walls, and half our soldiers were on the
     other side all of a sudden and knew our plans to boot.

Ranma shivered for a moment, eyes again far off. 

     The only way out that I could see was to take Po down before
     he could consolidate, and hope that the shock dispelled all
     the zombies and things, or at least slowed them down. So I
     organized what I could get my hands on and we went through
     the front of their defenses. 

     It helped that I'd gotten one of the zombies restrained,
     'cause I showed the thing off to the Black Wave troops on
     that section and three fourths of them changed sides again. 

     Anyway we broke the defense of Po's sanctum and went in to
     get him, but we discovered that he'd called all his proteges
     in for a conference, and they'd brought their guards. So we
     plowed into them, and when it was over the only two left
     standing were me and Kai-oniichan, who'd been commanding the
     guards.

Akane gasped in sympathy, "Ranchan, why didn't he switch sides too?
Didn't you tell him ...?"

Ranma looked at her through gathering tears. "Because he was a Samurai,
Acchan, and wouldn't leave his Lord's side."

Akane nodded, eyes also dimmed by tears, and Ranma continued. 

     So I knew Po and the others were just beyond him, and I knew
     he wouldn't get out of my way, and I knew I couldn't beat
     him. So I turned loose the cat, and the last thing I remember
     before I woke up in the middle of the pile of corpses that
     had used to be Master Po and his lieutenants and the traitors
     was batting Kai-oniichan out of the way, and he went through
     a wall trailing blood.

Akane gathered Ranma to her, and the redhead nestled her face into her
friend's shoulder for a long minute, silently weeping. When she
regained control she sat back and wiped her eyes, and continued. 

     We never did recover Oniichan's body, but the place had been
     pretty badly damaged in the fight and the whole thing burned
     down and exploded right after that, so that's not too
     surprising. 

     Anyway I couldn't stay in the city after that, so I made what
     arrangements I could for Asako-oneesan and Kaiko-imoutochan,
     and got ready to leave. Then the Abbot of the Silver Mist
     Temple took me aside and told me that the they'd been
     guarding something for a couple centuries now, but he felt I
     was worthy and he wanted me to have it. (Ranma gestured at
     the amulet in the center of the circle.)

     Well, I didn't _feel_ worthy, but the Abbot said that it
     could help me find what I needed so I took it anyway. What it
     was, was the mirror set into that amulet there, and the Abbot
     said it was the, or maybe _a_, Nanban Mirror, and it was a
     magic mirror of travel. 

     So I put it in my pack, and took some of the money I had, and
     came back to Tokyo at last. I was deeply depressed, still in
     shock, and had no idea what I was going to do with my life,
     or even if I should bother. I was thirteen years old. So,
     just after I got back, I took a trip to see Fuji-san. I was
     completely bummed out and seeing the happy people all around
     didn't help, and I had this stupid mirror in my pack and it
     wasn't doing anything at all. So I found this little clearing
     and took it out and yelled at it. It didn't do anything, and
     finally I started crying, and that was how I found out how it
     works.

Akane frowned, "You mean...?"

     Yep. Tears. (Ranma nodded firmly) Tears or blood. Drop them
     onto the mirror and it'll take you away. _But_. You see that
     the Mirror's cracked? So sometimes it takes you where you ask
     to go. 

     And _sometimes_ it takes you where you _want_ to go. 

     And sometimes it takes you where you _need_ to go. 

     And sometimes -- if you're unlucky -- it takes you where you
     _deserve_ to go.

Nabiki asked "Can anyone use it?" as Akane overrode her with, "So where
did it take you, Ranchan?"

Ranma smirked and answered Nabiki first. "Maybe once, Nabiki-san, but
not any more. I've spilled too much blood on it, and it'll only work
for me until I die."

     And as to where it took me.... Well. I knew as soon as it
     happened that it had done _something_, but I didn't know
     _what_. 

     So I started looking around, and I noticed that Fuji-san was
     smaller. Now I was standing in the same place and hadn't
     moved as far as I could tell, but still I could tell it
     wasn't the same place at all. So I started walking around,
     and I noticed that whether I'd moved or not some of the
     landmarks weren't there, and others were changed, and there
     wasn't any sign of people around at all. 

     Eventually I found an open space in the woods, and followed
     that to a stream. I followed the stream along for a day or
     so, and finally broke out into a cleared field.

     Now I'd been seeing the right trees and plants for the area
     all around me, and Fuji-san was still there so I knew I must
     still be in Japan, but I also knew it wasn't _my_ Japan. So
     when I walked around the outer edge of the field and came in
     sight of the village the field was a part of and found that
     it was all primitive houses and stuff, and that the people in
     it were Ainu, I wasn't as surprised as I might have been
     otherwise.

Nabiki started and Kasumi gasped, "Ainu! Near Fuji-san? Kami, how far
back did you go?"

     From research I did later, Kasumi-san, (Ranma smiled her
     crooked smile) I figure about 2500 to 3000 years.

Akane shook her head in shock and Ranma grinned at her. 

     So I was walking along the edge of the field, not looking at
     the ground, and I trod on something and it dug into my foot.
     I picked it up, and took it into the village.

     Now the village didn't know what to do with me at all, and it
     didn't help that I was pissed off, but they figured that I
     must be a spirit or something and sent for the shaman. The
     shaman was a smart old bugger, and we figured out how to talk
     to each other a little bit. I asked him what the hell they
     thought they were doing to leave things like that out where
     they could bite people, and he said that it wasn't theirs. 

     They just popped up, he said. They'd been made by somebody
     back at the dawn of time, and then they'd all gotten broke
     and scattered about when the world came to an end. Or
     something like that, anyway. 

     So I said that if they gave me a place to sleep and some food
     I wouldn't be mad at them. So they shared what they had,
     which wasn't much, and it was good that they did, 'cause that
     night some bandit types came out of the forest and I had to
     run them off.

     I'd had to kill a couple of the bandits, (Ranma poured
     herself another cup of tea.) and the next morning I tried to
     talk to the shaman again. It turned out that the village
     didn't actually have anything to take except a little food,
     but the bandits would take anything they could get. 

     Later that night I looked at the pottery piece I'd stepped on
     -- that's it on the back of the amulet -- and I noticed
     something.

     The piece had been broken off its pot when somebody hit it
     with an axe. If you look you can see the signs at the top. So
     I used the mirror to go back to Tokyo, and went to a museum.

     The guy I talked to there said it was a Jomon pot, and
     figured that it must be 5000 years old at least.

     And I sat down _that_ night and thought about it some more.
     And I realized that some poor guy had made this pot the best
     he could, cause he'd needed it for something. And some other
     bastard had come along and broken it, and probably killed the
     guy that made it too. And it had waited 2000 years in the
     ground so it could come up and bite my foot, so I would stay
     in a little village where little people lived who hardly had
     enough for their families to eat. And then another group of
     bastards had come out of the forest to break all _their_
     stuff and kill _them_, but I'd stopped them instead. 

     And I'd just come from 3000 years ahead of when those little
     people lived their lives in that little village; where I'd
     been living in a city with another group of little people
     trying to get on with their lives; and yet _another_ set of
     bastards had come out of the wilderness and tried to kill and
     mess up _them_, just so they could steal what _they_ had.

     And it came to me that, if I went wandering around living
     with groups of little people trying to get on with their
     lives long enough, probably any set of them that you cared to
     name was eventually going to have some set of bastards or
     other come out of the wilderness and try to kill them and
     break all their stuff so they could steal whatever they had.
     And if I was there, then I could stop them from doing it. And
     that was about as good a road to travel as I was ever going
     to get.

     So I took the mirror and had it mounted in the amulet, and
     had the guy put the pot-shard on the other side, to thank it
     for the lesson. And then I asked the mirror to take me to
     somewhere I could learn to become a protector, and cut my arm
     and bled on it, and off I went.
 
Akane's eyes were bright and she leaned forward. "So where did youend
up that time, Ranchan?"

     Well I ended up on top of a hill, and when I tried to get my
     bearings I tripped and rolled down it and when I reached the
     bottom of the hill I ended up at the feet of this tall,
     handsome, noble-looking guy with a samurai's swords and
     topknot and the clothing of a wandering ronin. Except he was
     a rabbit. And that was how I met Usagi.
 
"W-wait just a minute, Ranchan. A rabbit?" Akane blinked in confusion.

Ranma nodded. 

     Usagi's world is basically Japan in 1620 CE or so, except
     most of the people are  - what's the word? -- anthropomorphs!
     That's it. You know, human-shaped animals, like in a manga.
     So there's Bulls and Bears and Cats and Rabbits and Foxes
     .... Daimyo Noriyuki is a _Panda_ of all things, for
     instance.

     So, to continue, Usagi-dono, that's Miyamoto Usagi by the
     way, had been a samurai in the service of the Daimyo Mifune.
     Mifune was the enemy of Daimyo Hijiki, and about five or six
     years before I'd met them, in the last part of the battles
     for the Shogunate, they'd come to blows. 

     Lord Mifune would probably have won, but Hijiki is a plotter,
     and he plotted well. Two of Mifune's allies turned traitor,
     along with one of his generals and the commander of his
     bodyguard. Usagi was away from his side acting as a courier
     at the time and he got back too late; Gunichi had run off and
     Lord Mifune was mortally injured. 

     A samurai's loyalty doesn't end just because his lord is
     dead, and so Usagi wanders serving his master's cause as best
     he can as a ronin.

Akane sniffed and wiped her eyes and Ranma smiled wistfully. 

     It's all very sweet and touching and honorable, and
     Usagi-dono is handsome and noble and kind, so I was more than
     willing to follow him around and train with him.

Nabiki grinned twistedly, "Get lucky?" Akane bopped her on the head. 

     No, darn it! (Ranma pouted) There's such a thing as being
     _too_ noble. Although I see now that he was basically already
     taken anyway. And I did manage to retain _most_ of my
     dignity. 

     But I learned a lot about combat, and honor, and the sword;
     and traveling with Usagi is good for putting polish on young
     warriors if it's good for nothing else. I met a number of his
     friends and acquaintances, and managed to spend a month or
     two with a few of them as well.

     After that, I left and used the mirror to go a few years
     later in our own Japan for a while and then jumped back and
     forth to here and there training in whatever Art was
     available wherever I went. But I would go back to the
     wanderer's road to check on my friends from time to time. 

Nabiki quirked an eyebrow. "Just to check, hmmm?"

     You get better adventures with Usagi and company around, and
     they _are_ my friends. Plus, to be honest, it's enormously
     liberating to be so free that the only thing that you have to
     worry about is if there's an inn in the direction you woke up
     facing, and that only because it's the direction you're
     walking now. 

     At least until the first couple of times you spend a wet,
     cold, fireless night 'cause there _wasn't_ one, anyway. And
     that takes a while.

Kasumi and Nabiki had acquired far-off looks, and Akane looked slightly
wistful. "So what about Jei-san, Ranchan?"

     Jei's from Usagi's world of course. He used to be a samurai
     or some such. I ran into him several times and didn't enjoy
     any of the experiences, but they weren't like today. As for
     what he is? (Ranma bit her lip lightly.) 

     The first couple of times I met him he seemed completely
     human, or wolf, or whatever. Mad as a monk in a morass, mind
     you, but human. He's always claimed to be the champion of the
     gods and such, but _which_ god he's never said. If he knows. 

     Generally he speaks of a 'sacred mission',which always
     involves mayhem and slaughter of some type, and says that
     when he completes it he will be lifted up and granted
     divinity. He has before been shown to be fast, strong, damn
     good with a sword, deadly with a yari, tough, possessed of
     some kind of tracking sense if he's hunting you, and very
     hard to permanently kill -- he always seems to come back.

Ranma rubbed her chin for a moment and considered. 

     The first time I met him, he just started ranting and
     attacked me. Since I was with Usagi-dono and Tomoe-dono --
     Noriyuki- sama's chief retainer -- at the time, that was a
     particularly stupid thing to do. It wasn't really much of a
     fight and we left him by the roadside, dead, as we thought at
     the time.

     He came back on us and kidnaped the son of the headmaster of
     Usagi-dono's old village to get Usagi-dono to fight him.
     Usagi-dono did, and sent him over a cliff with his yari in
     his side. 

     The third time that I met him was the only time I ever
     managed to get close to Hijiki-yaro in a fight. Hijiki-yaro's
     not nearly the fighter that he is a plotter, and I nearly had
     him, but Jei-san came out of nowhere and saved the bastard. I
     cut Jei-san's heart in two for it, but I didn't get to see
     what happened to him after that, because Hijiki-yaro took
     advantage of my distraction and did this (Ranma indicated her
     throat, and the scar she bore there).

Ranma tapped her chin with her index finger for a moment. 

     The last time that I saw Jei-san before this morning ... Was
     about a year ago in my time-line. I had run into the little
     bugger unexpectedly, on the road, and had dueled with him a
     little. Then he broke off and started moving. I thought it
     was weird and pursued. It worked out that he'd been sent or
     moved by his patron or something, because about twenty miles
     away or so I ran into Usagi-dono.

     He was with Gennosuke-san and Zato-ino-san and about thirty
     or so Neko clan Ninja. They were preparing to assault this
     castle, the fortress of a moderately important lord named
     Tamakuro, and Jei had gone for the fortress like he'd been
     pulled by a string. Tamakuro-san, according to Usagi-dono and
     the leader of the ninja -- a warrior named Shingen -- had
     gathered together a store of about three hundred arquebuses
     and a couple tons of ammunition and was preparing to rebel
     against the Shogun. 

     We found out later that Hijiki-yaro was behind it in some
     way, but as usual he didn't leave any evidence you could use.

     Anyway we attacked the place and broke through the wall.
     Usagi-dono went off hunting for Tomoe-dono, who was
     imprisoned there, and Gen and Zato-ino-san got pinned down
     holding off about half the garrison near the main gate. This
     left it up to Shingen-san and I to lead the ninja against the
     armory. 

     We did alright for a while, but then Jei-san stuck his nose
     in. He smashed into the side of our assault and killed
     Shingen-san and a dozen or so ninja, which threw the rest
     into confusion, but then I went after him and chased him up
     into the fortress proper.

     Usagi-dono had found Tomoe-dono and he and she had rallied
     the ninja and mounted another assault on the armory; but
     Tamakuro-san had gained enough time to regroup and bring
     reinforcements to the central defense and they were driven
     back. 

     In the meantime I had run into Jei-san and a samurai I knew
     to be one of Hijiki's chief knives preparing to lead more of
     the guards to trap the rest of our side inside the castle.

     I scattered the guards and got involved in a fight with Jei-
     san and Akkhoto-san that damn near killed me, but I
     maneuvered them into one spot in front of the central tower
     and called the dragon wind on them. _That_ time it worked --
     it didn't this morning -- and Jei went down with the tower
     falling on top of him. 

     About that time I got a very strong impulse to beat feet and
     so I did. Which turned out to be a good thing, 'cause
     something had struck a spark or something in the ammunition
     room and the whole damn place blew sky high.

     Now that was the first time that I knew A) that Jei had not
     only been mortally injured but had actually _died_, and, B)
     that the body was destroyed and not lost track of.

Ranma paused for a moment and sipped the last of her tea. 

     I don't really know how he got out of that, but his showing
     up _here_ just confirms what you could get from the fact that
     he showed up at all; which is that he has some _major_
     supernatural backing.

     That, combined with the abilities, weaknesses and immunity to
     damage he showed this morning makes me think that he may have
     been turned into a Chiang Shih. That would mean that someone
     had done something to his higher 'hun' soul and then
     corrupted his 'po' soul ... or replaced it altogether, now
     that I think of it. 

     He was definitely slower and less skilled than he should have
     been, which would fit, 'cause his 'body soul' would be messed
     up and wouldn't have all the same skill and 'feel' he'd be
     used to. He'd also be damn near impossible to permanently
     damage, which definitely fits.

     Normally you'd also expect him to be vulnerable to sunlight,
     but he obviously wasn't. This is probably due to the power he
     was throwing around - that green fire. It showed all the
     signs of being a serious yin ch'i manifestation, and from the
     way it acted I'm betting it was the main thing holding his
     body together.

"Which would mean what?" Nabiki asked softly.

Ranma's eyes were focused on the problem, rather than the girls.

     Which would mean that he was something closer to a demon than
     a Chiang Shih per se, Nabiki-san. He'd be using the body only
     as a means to move his power around and not really be
     connected to it at all .... (her eyes narrowed and her voice
     went soft). 

     Not connected ... now that I think about it I didn't see any
     sign of his 'hun' soul at all did I? I cut out the 'po' soul
     and _it_ was in the heart instead of the lungs, but I didn't
     see the 'hun' at all. 

     Which could mean that he was using the power to animate the
     body and the body to contain the power and the 'po' soul to
     control it all ... and that would explain why the body blew
     up like that when I took the soul out ... but the 'hun' soul
     had to be _somewhere_, and if it wasn't _there_ ... then he
     must have been given a way to run the body 'long-distance',
     as it were ... which would mean .... that _it_ might _not_
     have been affected by the demise of the rest of his body ....
     which in turn would mean ....

"Which would mean that he could come back, wouldn't it, Ranchan?" asked
Akane very quietly.

Ranma frowned worriedly. "Yeah, it would."

Nabiki was also very quiet. "If it does come back, what can we do,
Ranma-san?"

Ranma's gaze was level. "You can hide, Nabiki-san. And if you can't
hide, then you can run." She transferred her gaze to Akane, who met it
levelly. "_You_, I'll work with, since I don't suppose I can convince
you to be sensible and keep out of it."

"No, Ranchan, you can't. As long as you're fighting it, I will be too."

A quiet settled over Akane and Ranma, who were sitting with their gazes
locked on each other's eyes. Nabiki and Kasumi quietly stood up,
gathered up the tray and tea things and left the dojo. 

Eventually Ranma leaned forward and ran her thumb in a circle around
Akane's forehead. "Marked with the sign. Just like me." Standing up,
"Come on, Acchan, you haven't done anywhere near enough training yet." 

Akane moaned theatrically as she rose. "Ohhhh. My sensei's a bully." 

"All sensei are bullies, Acchan." Ranma bopped her on the head,"It's
the notable trait of the type. Assume."

"Oh, Kami."

"Kumite."

"Help."

*Hsssh*, *shrk*, *th-thmp* *shrk* *hssh*. *rtch-THUMP*. 

"Ite!" 

"Slacker."

"Bully."

"Shirker. Assume."

"Baka. Friends?"

"Friends forever, I promise. Kumite." 

*Hssh*, *rtch-thp*, *th-thmp**shrk*, *thmp-thmp-SPLT* 

"Ite!"

"Which does not, however, get you out of getting beat on." 

*rtch-thp*, *shrk-hshh-shrk-rtch*.

"Wouldn't want it any other way." 

*th-thmp*, *shrk*, *thmp-thmp-THAP* *whhsh-rtch-THMP!* "HA!" 

"Good one." 

*THUMP-WHAP-WHAM* 

"Ite!"

"Just don't get cocky."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Akane was seated in seiza in the middle of the dojo floor, eyes closed.
Ranma knelt behind her with hands poised above her shoulders. "What am
I trying to feel, Ranchan?"

"You aren't trying to feel anything, Acchan; you're just trying to
_feel_. If you try to anticipate _what_ to feel, you will feel
falsely." 

"Now you sound like a koan," Akane said, crossly.

"The master came to a yatai which was selling hot dogs. 'What do you
want on your hot dog?' he was asked. 'Nothing,' he replied. Then the
hot dog was enlightened." Her hands descended, slowly, to just outside
Akane's theoretical peripheral vision, had her eyes been open, and
around them a faint glow began to form.

Akane snorted a giggle, then gasped. Suddenly, she was aware of senses
she had never before known she had. All around her she sensed flows of
energy; whirls and spirals and forms of intangible luminescence
coexisted in her sight with the simple, everyday visions of floor and
walls and dojo, and outside the dojo she could see/sense/hear/smell yet
more. 

A flaming tidal wave of information and impressions seemed to pass over
her, and she felt herself burn, as though every limb had been set
afire. A wash of energy filled her; she could tell that it was her own,
that in some sense it was _her_, yet it rebelled against her, fought
her tooth and nail. 

She frantically searched for control, sought to reduce the tide of data
to familiar forms and modes. In front of her she seemed to see a
shadow, like a blanket to protect her from the fire, and she grasped at
it desperately. It tore in her metaphorical hands and yet she somehow
knew that it would heal itself, would cover her eyes and ears, would
shelter them, if only she could open herself to it.

She yearned for the protection the shadow blanket might offer, but how
do you shelter under a blanket that tears if you touch it? Then she
realized: you _ask_ it. And the shadow rolled over her, warm and
enveloping. 

For a brief moment she welcomed the respite, and then the shadow
resolved itself into visions. Ghosts long gone and barely remembered
thronged her sight. Some trailed behind her like beads of light tracing
out the necklace of her past; others swarmed throughout the dojo,
carrying out the many roles of decades of dojo life. 

She saw her father's fading doppelgangers going through kata, her own
following and growing taller as they did so; saw her mother bringing
snacks, Kasumi playing about her feet; saw Nabiki strolling through in
many guises, growing from a toddler into a teenager; saw swiftly
vanishing traces which seemed to show the future, though how she could
tell this she could not say.

The milling horde of ghosts was no better than the waves of energy,
overrunning her senses with too much input to survive. She tried to cry
out, to scream, but she sensed the weak and desperate energies of the
call smashed flat, drowned by the raging torrent of conflicting
energies that surrounded her and foamed through her; drowned, as she
was drowning; overcome, as she was overcome. 

Then the raging sensations weakened, parted, blew aside; she emerged
into the prosaic world of normal sight and sound and touch like a diver
from deep water. Slowly and cautiously she extracted herself from the
sensations that had overwhelmed her, feeling them held back by a
metaphorical wind generated by Ranma's softly glowing hands. 

Finally, she pulled the last of herself free with a sudden jerk; and
wobbled painfully to her feet, staggering to the wall, where she sank
down with a groan, putting her face in her hands. A soft footstep
announced Ranma, who knelt at her side, putting her hand on Akane's
shoulder. Weakly, Akane held up her head, turning her face to meet
Ranma's gentle, sad smile.

"Second birth, Acchan, and Third. Welcome to the _real_ world." 

"It hurt, Ranchan." Weakly and somewhat petulant, like a child who has
been assured that a trip to the dentist involves candy. 

"Being born always does, in one sense or another. Rest awhile. You've
started on a great journey, but you still have a long way to go."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

As the light of late afternoon slanted in from the west, and was
obscured by gathering clouds, Nabiki was speaking with Kasumi and Ranma
left Akane in the furo. 

Akane had entered into the spirit of the training with alacrity, and
had become somewhat overheated as a result, thus returning to the bath.
Ranma resumed her original clothing, which she had washed with the
assistance of some mild techniques of shih manipulation and some minor
magic, and returned to the hallway to speak to Kasumi.

"Oh! Ranma-san, is your training with Akane-imoutochan going well?"
Kasumi asked calmly. She worried abo